News / Two drink drivers banned
TWO public sector workers were fined and banned at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday after they admitted drink driving.
Hospital staff nurse Rosalind Beal, aged 46, of Braefield Cottage, Stove, Sandwick, was arrested after she was seen by an off duty policeman crashing her car through a fence in Cunningsburgh on 14 November.
When breathalysed she was found to be more than four times the limit for drink driving, but defence agent Tommy Allan said that she was not “a chronic alcoholic”, as had been implied during her last court appearance.
“She has not been very well at all and (alcohol) is what she was using to cope with depression. She has abstained from alcohol since the date of the offence,” he said.
Sheriff Graeme Napier said she must have become acclimatised to alcohol to be able to consume that quantity, but acknowledged she had taken steps to deal with her problem before fining her £1,400 and disqualifying her from driving for three years.
Meanwhile Shetland Islands Council personnel officer Doreen Thomason was fined £1,000 and disqualified for two years after she admitted being two and a half times the legal limit for drink driving on Lerwick’s South Road on 7 August.
The court heard the 56 year old, who lives at 69 Nederdale, Lerwick, had been at a cocktail party and in “a moment of madness” had decided to drive home when her transport arrangements fell through.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said police had received a tip off and were alerted by the state of the vehicle and the manner of her driving.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said Thomason was “utterly ashamed” of her behaviour. “She has indicated the court can’t beat her up any more than she’s beat herself up about this,” he said.
Sheriff Graeme Napier repeated his exasperation at the amount of people in Shetland who are caught drink driving. “I have come more and more to the conclusion that the only way to deal with this is by sending people to prison, but this is your first offence,” he said.
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