Shocking figures reveal Scottish children as young as 12 have been risking both their lives and those of other motorists by getting behind the wheel when drunk.
Meanwhile, the number of underage drink- drivers in Tayside and Fife more than doubled between 2012 and 2013, a spike that has been described as “astonishing and deeply alarming”.
North East Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone said the nationwide police figures, which incorporate data collected between 2008 and 2013, make for grim reading.
Mr Johnstone said: “The fact that children get behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol is both astonishing and deeply alarming, especially as these figures only reflect the ones who were caught.”
A Courier freedom of information request has revealed that Tayside’s youngest drink-driver was 15, while in Fife a 16-year-old was caught.
Across Tayside and Fife 10 out of 646 people caught drink-driving were under 18 in 2013, compared to four out of 698 the previous year.
Inspector Brian Poole of the road policing unit in Tayside said that while some of the teenagers caught were legally licensed, others were not.
He warned that the combination of inexperienced driver and reckless behaviour was a “recipe for disaster”.
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