News / Banned for two years
A FIFTY four your old Lerwick man has been disqualified for two years and fined £700 after admitting being in charge of a vehicle while over the legal drink driving limit.
Appearing from custody at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Monday, Robert Hamilton also pled guilty to failing to provide two specimens of breath as well as struggling violently with police officers while they were in the execution of their duty.
The court heard how police officers found Hamilton, of 5 Stanegarth, asleep in the driver’s seat of his van, with lights on and engine running, on Lerwick’s King Harald Street, in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Officers had to call for assistance after Hamilton first resisted being handcuffed. Once at Lerwick police station he refused to comply with procedures.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client had no intention to drive as he had been drinking.
He only returned to his van to fetch his mobile phone to call a taxi. When he realized that the phone was flat he started the engine to charge it, the solicitor said.
Hamilton, who works as a scaffolder and drives the works van, is now likely to lose his job, the court heard.
Sheriff Philip Mann said it was clear to him that the public would have been at risk, had Hamilton decided to drive.
He banned him from the roads for two years, fined him £600 for failing to provide breath samples and added a further £100 fine for struggling with police officers.
Hamilton can reduce the length of disqualification by six months if he successfully completes a drink driver rehabilitation course.
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