“MORNING after” drink-drivers accounted for more than two-thirds of all those caught in Scotland, police revealed today.
Around 70% of drink-drivers were caught between 6am and 10am, suggesting they had decided to risk getting behind the wheel after a night’s drinking.
Chief Superintendent Kate Thomson said: “During the first three weeks of this campaign, over 100 offenders detected for drink driving were under twice the legal limit, and over 70 offences were detected between 0600hrs and 1000hrs, classed as the morning after for offenders.”
Chief Supt Thomson, the officer in charge of the drink-drive crackdown for the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland (ACPOS), added: “As we move in to the new year party season, I would ask everyone to consider these statistics and remember that no matter what the level of alcohol is in your body, if you are over the limit even by a small amount, you will lose your licence, you will receive a fine and you will be arrested and treated like any other criminal.”
“We have detected 107 people who still thought it appropriate to drink and drive,” she said. “In addition another nine who were caught driving whilst impaired by drugs and four who were caught driving whilst impaired by alcohol.
Erratically
“I find these figures totally unacceptable. “As we continue through the festive season and more people will undoubtedly be socialising with friends and family, I would urge anyone who has a drink to avoid driving.
Police unveiled new details of some of the worst cases of the past three weeks.
In one case, a drink-driver had only passed her test two days earlier.
The 23-year-old was stopped near Newtonhill, Aberdeenshire, in the early hours of Boxing Day after she was seen driving erratically.
The woman, who was one-and-a-half times the limit had passed her test on Christmas Eve.
Another driver faces having his £20,000 BMW confiscated after he was seen swerving across the road in the Alloa area at 4am on Christmas Eve.
The 36-year-old refused to give a sample so a request has been made to the court to seize the vehicle.
In nearby Stirling, a drink driver crashed in to the garden of a property, hitting another car parked there.
The 20-year-old driver was tracked down following the incident shortly before 5am on Christmas Day. He was twice the legal limit and driving without insurance.
In Elgin, Morayshire, on December 19, a 22-year-old driver was twice the limit with a one-year-old child in the back seat.
The driver crashed the car, slightly injuring the child. He has also been charged with driving without insurance.
Several drivers were found to be four times the limit, including a 46-year-old man stopped in Dundee on December 20. Due to his high reading a request was submitted to the court to consider seizing and forfeiting his vehicle.
