A contractor on his way to work on a new north-east school crashed into a roundabout while almost three times the legal alcohol limit.
David Penny, 44, was travelling to the site of a new campus being built in Inverurie when the crash happened on the A96 at the Clinterty roundabout in Blackburn.
Depute fiscal Gavin Letford told Aberdeen Sheriff Court Penny was seen to “accelerate on approach to the roundabout”.
He said: “A witness in a car nearby observed the accused’s vehicle hit a three-foot ramp which was surrounding the roundabout and thereafter collide with a sign on top of the roundabout before coming to rest on the opposite side.
“Effectively, it appears as a result of the accused’s speed he collided with the barrier, he became airborne and his vehicle struck the sign on the roundabout and landed on the opposite side.
“Witnesses spoke with the accused and he appeared to have no recollection of what just happened.”
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Police were called to the scene around 7am on February 1 and officers noted a smell of alcohol from Penny, who then provided a positive roadside breath test.
Penny, of Tyddyn Mostyn Estate, Menai Bridge in Wales, pled guilty to dangerous driving and driving with 62 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 22 microgrammes.
Defence agent Shane Campbell said: “He was en route to his employment at the time.
“He is a self-employed contractor and has been working at the Inverurie campus, the building of a new school.
“This is a situation where he has been drinking the night before with a number of colleagues and consumed much more alcohol than was appropriate, given that he was heading off for work at 7.30am.”
Sheriff Sukhwinder Gill said: “Your driving was appalling and it’s concerning you were under the influence of alcohol at 7am.
“The consequences could have been much more serious for yourself and others.”
She banned him from driving for 16 months and ordered him to pay a fine of £2,000.
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