Former head drove car four times over drink limit

A FORMER headteacher was four-and-a-half times over the alcohol limit when she was stopped for driving “extremely slowly”, a court heard.

Linda Birtwistle, 59, crossed the Tay Road Bridge then mounted a grass verge and veered on to the wrong side of the road.

Sheriff George Way banned her for 12 months and fined her £400 after she admitted the excess alcohol charge.

Birtwistle retired recently as head at Canongate Primary, in St Andrews, Fife. She claimed she had been drinking the previous night and had not realised she had still be over the limit the following afternoon.

Motorists spotted Birtwistle driving through Fife, over the Tay Road Bridge and into Dundee on December 4, Dundee Sheriff Court heard. Fiscal depute Trina Sinclair told the court: “At 1.55pm other motorists saw the accused driving extremely slowly.

“At one point the accused’s vehicle mounted a grass verge and crossed on to the other side of the road before returning to the proper side. One witness followed her on to Riverside Drive and when both vehicles stopped at traffic lights he got out of his car and approached the accused’s car. He knocked on her window and asked her if she had been drinking but she said no.”

The court heard Birtwistle had no previous convictions and had not come to the attention of the courts before.

Birtwistle, of Old St Andrews Road, Guardbridge, Fife, admitted driving a car with excess alcohol on the Leuchars to Newport road, Newport to Tay Road Bridge road, the Tay Road Bridge and Riverside Drive.