Drunk pensioner crashed head-on during a trip to buy more alcohol.

Man’s vehicle collided head-on with woman’s car after he drove while four times the legal limit

A drunk pensioner carried out a wrecking spree at the wheel of his car before eventually crashing head-on during a trip to buy more alcohol.

Alan Brown, 68, caused chaos by trying to drive to the supermarket when he was four times the limit on a busy Saturday lunchtime.

Brown was jailed for four months after Perth Sheriff Court heard how he could barely stand up when he crashed and brought a busy road to a standstill.

The court was told that Brown decided to go to Tesco in his car but smashed into the first parked car he came across, metres from his front door.

Undaunted, he simply drove off again with his engine revving loudly and went straight across a junction before mounting the pavement.

Brown then drove on to the main road out of Perth and suddenly lurched into the oncoming lane into the path of Catherine Fletcher’s vehicle, hitting it hard enough to inflate all the air bags.

Mrs Fletcher sustained suspected spinal injuries and the whole road had to be closed off while police dealt with the debris from the crash.

Brown, Cairns Crescent, Perth, admitted driving dangerously while he was drunk near his home and on Crieff Road in Perth on 27 May.

He admitted crashing into a parked car, mounting a pavement, driving on the wrong side of the road and crashing into Catherine Fletcher’s car and injuring her.

Depute fiscal Carol Whyte said: “It was busy with traffic and pedestrians. He left home and travelled at a low speed with his engine revving loudly.

“He was seen and heard by residents. He failed to negotiate the junction. Instead of turning left he went straight ahead and collided with a parked car.

“He was seen to reverse to negotiate the bend. He mounted the nearside pavement and didn’t stop. Five minutes later he travelled on to Crieff Road.

“Mr and Mrs Fletcher saw him cross the centre line and head straight towards them. She braked as hard as she could, but the accused’s vehicle collided head-on.”

Solicitor Jamie Baxter, defending, said his client had a drink problem and had been warned not to drive at anytime by concerned members of his family.

Mr Baxter said the car had been left outside his home and he had decided to take it to drive to the local supermarket.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said: “It’s not the drinking that has put him in the dock, it’s the driving while he’s drunk that has. If you are always above the legal limit because you are topping up then you don’t get into the car.

“If the family were saying to him not to drive, then he’s already been told. This is a serious offence. It gives me no pleasure to impose custody on a 68-year-old man but there’s no realistic alternative.”

Brown was also banned from driving for three years.

It gives me no pleasure to impose custody on a 68-year-old man but there’s no realistic alternative. SHERIFF LINDSAY FOULIS