Guilty of drink driving... in a road roller!

A MAN has been fined £400 after he was caught drink-driving a road roller.

James Brown was flagged down by police, who were looking for a man after reports a van had crashed into a wall.

But as Brown, pictured, moved the roller to the side of the road as directed, he barged into barriers and cones on a public path.

Officers tested Brown, 51, who was over the limit with a reading of 43 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit for alcohol is 22 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

At Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday, Brown, of Thornliebank, was convicted after a trial of driving the road roller culpably and recklessly in Thornliebank, Renfrewshire, on March 23 last year.

He was fined £400 by Sheriff Aisha Anwar – but was not banned from driving.

PC Lorna Lamont said she and PC Paul Love went in search of the driver of a van in relation to an earlier inquiry, on the morning of the incident.

She described seeing Brown driving the road roller towards her and her colleague. He matched the description of a man believed to have been driving a van they were looking for and they asked him to pull over.

Procurator fiscal depute Louise MacNeill asked: ‘You say he was driving a road roller. Is there anything else of note you recall?’

PC Lamont said: ‘When he was pulling the road roller in to the side to park it, he hit barriers.’

The officer said she was concerned for nearby members of the public, adding: ‘His manner was fine, but he came off the road roller and he stumbled. I could smell alcohol on him.’

When Brown was arrested, he told police: ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t realise two glasses of cider and blackcurrant and food would put me over the limit.’

PC Love told the court Brown stopped the road roller past the point they asked him to, adding that he ‘struck some barriers and cones’.