‘I’m careful’ when drinkdriving, OAP tells police

Timothy Hardie crashed car on 800-yard drive home from neighbour’s house

An inebriated Perth businessman who crashed his car on an 800-yard trip home from a neighbour’s house told police he could not understand how the accident had happened because he normally drove extra carefully when he had been drinking.

Jeweller Timothy Hardie was banned from the road for 15 months and fined £800 after a sheriff said his comments to police “spoke volumes”.

Perth Sheriff Court heard Hardie, 72, had been to a neighbour’s house on Boxing Day.

He consumed alcohol and then took what he later described as the “foolish” decision to drive home. Once in the police car, he told officers he was “usually more careful” when drunk.

Hardie, of Guildtown, admitted drink-driving on the A93 near the junction with the unclassified road to St Martins, Perth and Kinross, on December 26.

An inebriated businessman crashed his car and then told police he was “usually extra careful” when he had been drinking.

Timothy Hardie had been invited to a neighbour’s house on Boxing Day and decided to drive the short distance home.

His car was found down an embankment on the A93 Perth to Blairgowrie Road and passersby called the police.

The 72-year-old was later found to have 58 mics of alcohol in his system, more than two-and-a-half times the legal limit of 22.

Depute fiscal Carol Whyte told Perth Sheriff Court: “At 6.50pm on Boxing Day another road user noticed there was a vehicle that had gone down the embankment on the south side of the carriageway and was among the trees.

“She stopped and saw the accused in the driver’s seat trying to manoeuvre back out of the embankment.

“She asked him if he was OK and he said he was. By this time other road users had also stopped and police and an ambulance had been contacted.

“At about 7.13pm the accused was asked to identify the driver and he identified himself. He was arrested and en-route to the police station the accused told police officers he couldn’t understand why he had crashed as he is usually so careful when he’s been drinking.”

Solicitor Pauline Cullerton, defending, said: “He is a first offender and has held a clean driving licence for 43 years.

“He was at home when his neighbour contacted him and asked if he was on his own and would he like to come over.

“The neighbour resides 800 yards from him and he drove there. He consumed alcohol and, in his own words, foolishly decided to drive back home. On the journey home he hit black ice.”

She added that Hardie has a medical condition that makes it difficult for him to walk any distance.

Hardie, of Guildtown, Perthshire, admitted drink-driving on the A93 near the junction with the unclassified road to St Martins on December 26.

Noting that his comment to police “spoke volumes”, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis banned Hardie from the roads for 15 months and fined him £800.

Timothy Hardie was fined and banned from the roads.