A student three times over the drink drive limit was “incredibly stupid” to drive home from the pub, Oban Sheriff Court was told.
Lewis Kirsop, 23, of Ceol Na Mara, Ardtun on Mull decided to drive home from drinking with friends in Bunessan instead of walking because it was raining, the court heard.
Kirsop plead guilty to the drink-driving charge from October 13 this year. He had 71 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath when police tested him – the legal limit is 22 micrograms.
Sheriff Euan Cameron disqualified him from driving for 16 months which will be reduced by a quarter if he successfully completes a drink driver rehabilitation course. He was also fined £300 and ordered to pay a £20 victim surcharge.
Sheriff Cameron told him: “You are 23, still a young man. You are a student, you have a good work ethic studying and working part-time. You have no previous convictions but what you did was incredibly stupid and selfish. You could have caused serious damage to yourself and damage to the public which is unforgiveable and you have that on your conscious.”
The court heard how police were alerted to a suspected crash after receiving an automatic SOS call from Kirsop’s phone.
Officers made enquiries which led them to contact Kirsop’s father who was able to tell them his son had made it home safely and had been in a collision.
Police called at his home where they noticed Kirsop smelled of alcohol, he admitted to having been drinking and that his car had been involved in an incident a short distance from his house.
The vehicle had flipped onto its roof and been extensively damaged.
The court heard how Kirsop was “a complete stranger to the court” and had come with a clean driving record and no previous convictions.
The night of the offence, he had had been to visit his grandmother then gone to Bunessan to see his dad who works at the hotel.
He noticed his friends were there and decided to sit with them and drink alcohol. At that stage he had no intention of driving home but when he saw the rain was torrential, he took the car.
On his way home, the car wheel left the tarmac and flipped over. His phone recognised there had been a crash and alerted the police.
His father picked him up from the scene and on his father’s advice he had two large whiskies, the court heard.