While he was stopped at traffic lights by the Robin Hood pub near Springfield at 5.30 am on 20 March, Dolan Robbie Le Coguiec (21) put his hand out of his Ford Escort to signal to a police car waiting behind that the driver in front – Charles Clive Scurr – was not fit to be on the road.
The Magistrate’s Court heard on Wednesday that the police followed Scurr, an 18-year-old Highlands College student, after he then erratically drove off at speed along Queen’s Road and Scurr, who was carrying two passengers, was stopped and when breath-tested was found to have 59 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath – 24 micrograms above the limit.
However, the court heard that when he was interviewed, Scurr told the police that Le Coguiec should have been stopped, as he had been drinking as well.
Later that morning officers found Le Coguiec, who works as an electrician, asleep in his car and after he was breath-tested he was found to have 64 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath – 5 micrograms more than Scurr.
Advocate Jane Grace, defending Scurr, said that her client, who pleaded guilty to drink-driving, was remorseful and thought he had been under the limit, as he had stopped drinking several hours before.
Relief Magistrate Sarah Fitz, presiding, said that Scurr would be sentenced to a longer driving disqualification than Le Coguiec because he was observed to have been driving erratically.
Scurr was banned from driving for 18 months and was fined £500 and Le Coguiec, who represented himself in court, was disqualified from driving for 15 months and was fined £800.
