A motorist was found asleep at the wheel in a Tesco car park while nearly seven times the drink-drive limit.
David Robertson was caught at the Perth supermarket just months after he rolled his black BMW into a field on the same stretch of road.
Perth Sheriff Court heard the 47-year-old had careered off the A912 while trying to avoid a sheep on the road.
Robertson, from Larkhall, pled guilty to driving carelessly on January 31 this year by travelling at excessive speed, before losing control of his vehicle.
He further admitted driving the same car on Edinburgh Road on June 3 with excess alcohol (152mics/ 22).
Swerved to avoid sheep
Fiscal depute Stephanie Paterson, prosecuting, said: “At about 1.10pm on January 31, police constables were called to attend a road traffic collision at the locus.
“When they arrived they found a vehicle in a field that had come to rest on its roof.
“The accused was still in the car.
“He was uninjured and managed to extract himself”
Robertson told police he had been driving too fast on a corner.
“He said there was a sheep or a goat on the road and he tried to swerve to avoid hitting it,” said Ms Paterson.
The court heard how Robertson came to the attention of police again four months later.
“At about 3.10pm on June 3, a witness was travelling from Bridge of Earn to Perth when her attention was drawn to the accused’s vehicle.
“She observed that it was not staying within the white lines of the road.
“The steering seemed to be jerky, as if the driver was struggling to go round bends.”
Ms Paterson said: “The manner of driving was enough of a concern for this witness to contact police.”
Asleep at the wheel
Constables were told Robertson’s BMW had turned into the Tesco car park.
“Police approached the vehicle and found the accused asleep in the driver’s seat,” the fiscal depute said.
“As he was roused, police noticed a strong smell of alcohol.
“They also noticed he had droopy eyelids.
“A bottle of gin was lying in the car. It was about three-quarters full.”
Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane disqualified Robertson for two years.
She also placed him on supervision for six months and told him to engage with alcohol counselling services.
“This was an exceptionally high reading,” she told him.
“You were over six times the limit.
“That requires me to impose a high period of disqualification.”
She added: “You may not think you have a problem with alcohol, but I can see from the report there is an issue here.”
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