A motorist who drove at six times the legal drink drive limit while at the wheel of an SSE vehicle has lost his job.
A concerned motorist alerted the police after spotting Stuart Storie swerving across the A9 as he headed north towards Inverness.
Officers stopped the Ford Ranger pickup truck and found a visibly drunk Storie at the wheel.
Fiscal depute Tina Dickie told Perth Sheriff Court: “At about 11.15am on Monday August 22 Police Scotland received a call from a member of the public stating that a Scottish and Southern Energy vehicle was being driven all over the road.
“At around 11.25am police officers traced the Ford Ranger in question, driving north towards Inverness. Whilst driving behind the vehicle they observed it swerving all over the road, swerving onto the opposing carriageway and on occasion colliding with the verge in the nearside.
“The vehicle was stopped and the accused was found to be driving. He smelled of alcohol and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol.
“He failed a roadside breath test and was take to Perth police station where the statutory procedure was carried out with a lower reading of 132 mics.”
Solicitor Paul Ralph, representing the 26-year-old, said Storie had been drinking the night before.
He said: “It was a fairly calamitous decision all round to get behind the wheel. He has been dismissed, having worked for the company for a great many years.”
However Sheriff Lindsay Foulis countered: “Under the old limit of 35 mics that’s a pint and a half to two pints – that’s six or seven pints still in his system the morning after. That’s a heck of a lot the night before.”
Storie admitted driving on the A9 near Blair Atholl with 132 mics of alcohol in his system on August 22 this year. The legal limit is 22, having been lowered from 35 in December 2014.
Sentence on Storie, of Newhouse Road, Perth, was deferred until next month for reports. Sheriff Foulis also imposed an interim driving ban.
