A greenkeeper found in the driver’s seat of a car with more than four times the legal amount of alcohol in his system has been acquitted of a drink-driving offence.
Peter Norrie had the keys to the vehicle clutched in his hand but told Perth Sheriff Court he had accidentally fallen asleep after going to the car to fetch an overnight bag.
The 34-year-old said he had no intention of driving the vehicle and had made arrangements to sleep on a friend’s sofa ahead of a golf match the following day.
Norrie, of Loyal Road, Alyth, had been drinking all day with a colleague from Alyth Golf Club before returning to a property on Lower Bank Street.
He said he returned to his Ford Fiesta, which was parked nearby, for a moment alone before going to the house.
“I think it was about 5pm,” he said.
“I went to my car to retrieve my bag and I decided to have a quiet cigarette as (my friend) does not allow smoking in his house.
“The next thing was the police at the window.”
Police officer Lynsey McAlpine said she and a colleague had discovered Norrie in the driver’s seat at around 6.45pm on August 3 last year.
He was taken to the police station in Dundee, where he was found to have 144mics of alcohol in his system. The legal limit is 35.
She said that, while travelling to the station, Norrie said he intended to stay at his mother’s house.
Norrie did not deny being drunk but insisted he had not driven the vehicle and had no intention of doing so.
He said he was shocked to hear the police officer say he had told her he planned to drive to his mother’s and added that he was avoiding her that night to hide the fact that he had had an argument with his girlfriend.
Norrie said a friend was to travel from Dundee the following morning to pick him up for a game at Alyth Golf Club.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told Norrie he believed he had no intention of getting behind the wheel to drive before the Sunday afternoon and acquitted him of the charge.