A FORMER driving instructor found nearly five times the drink-drive limit was spared jail yesterday.
Pauline Medhurst (40), Glebe Park, Strathmiglo, was found slumped over the wheel of her car outside her home on the afternoon of November 11.
Cupar Sheriff Court heard that she had earlier drunk a bottle of vodka as she battled post-natal depression.
Sheriff Charles Macnair sentenced Medhurst, a mother of three, to a two-year community payback order, 300 hours of community work and disqualified her from driving for 40 months.
He said: “The level of drink here was very, very high. It was over four times the legal limit.
“Driving for any distance with that amount of alcohol in your system is exceptionally dangerous.”
The court heard that her car had been in the middle of the road outside her home, stopping other vehicles from getting past.
Although she was taken inside by her husband before police arrived, Medhurst was eventually breath tested by officers, recording a reading of 162 microgrammes in 100ml of breath.
The legal drink-drive limit is 35 microgrammes.
Her solicitor Katrina Clark told the court that Medhurst had previously been employed as a driving instructor for five years and was aware of the “serious risk caused to others” by her actions.
She had struggled to cope with post-natal depression since giving birth to her third child earlier in the year and had turned to alcohol.
Although Medhurst had not been in trouble before, Sheriff Macnair told her that only her family circumstances had prevented her from receiving a custodial sentence.
He added: “The idea that a former driving instructor would get behind the wheel of a car after they had drunk a bottle of vodka is almost beyond belief.
“There is only one factor that keeps you out of prison today and that is the age of your children.”