A manager with a Fife engineering firm got so drunk in a nightclub a passerby had to pull the keys out of his car’s ignition.
Joseph Kennedy, 29, quality manager at Glenrothes-based semiconductor manufacturer Ultra Clean Technology, was seen “staggering” out of the nightspot in Alloa and getting into a Nissan Micra in a nearby carpark.
Prosecutor Susannah Hutchison told Alloa Sheriff Court the passerby “continued to watch the drunk man” as he reversed from a parking space.
The depute fiscal said: “This was with gears crunching and excessive revving of the engine.
“The vehicle then attempted to leave the carpark, narrowly missing a wall.”
She said the witness managed to open the door of the car and remove the keys from the ignition.
Police were called and Kennedy was arrested and provided a breath sample nearly five times the legal limit (103mics/22).
Kennedy, of Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, pled guilty to drink-driving.
‘Could have killed someone’
The incident happened at 2.30 am on September 4.
Solicitor Joe MacPherson, defending, said: “Mr Kennedy is perfectly well aware he could have killed someone.”
He added: “He had too much to drink.
“He was out drinking alone that night. He hadn’t planned to drive.
“He doesn’t seek to excuse what happened.”
He said as a result of losing his licence, Kennedy will now have to move to Fife to be nearer his work, he said.
Sheriff Neil Bowie banned Kennedy, a first offender, from driving for 20 months, fined him £1390 and ordered him to resit his test before ever getting back behind the wheel.
He said: “The level of alcohol in your system was significant.
“A member of the public very properly intervened and stopped you getting very far.”
