Court / Pond crash drink driver loses licence

A MAN who drove his car into a garden pond, taking out Christmas lights and ornaments while over five times the drink driving limit, has been fined and banned from driving.

Carl Leask, 36, of Muckle Roe admitted careless driving and driving with excess alcohol in his system on the evening of 29 December last year.

Lerwick Sheriff Court heard on Wednesday that Leask had been driving home after watching a football match when he ploughed through a garden fence near Brae and ended up “on top of the pond”.

When the occupants of the house looked out, they saw their garden lights had gone out and their fence was “strewn across the garden”. Ornaments and gateposts were also damaged.

Leask meanwhile phoned his wife for a lift. But the householder took his car keys from him when he tried to insert them in the ignition.

Police caught up with Leask at his house after his wife had picked him up, and he admitted being the driver of the car.

He was given the breath test and found to have 114 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

Tommy Allan, defending, said that Leask, a mussel farmer and boat handler, had intended walking home after watching the football but had been gripped by anxiety and decided to return for his car.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank ordered that Leask’s car, an insurance write-off, be forfeited and fined him a total of £800.

He banned him from driving for 16 months with the opportunity to reduce this by a quarter if he completes the drink drivers’ rehabilitation course.