Driver who was three times the limit given weekend curfew and unpaid work

A man caught three times over the drink driving limit was warned he was “on the cusp” of going to prison at Lerwick Sheriff Court today.

Instead Scott McCulloch, 37, of Mill Lane in the town, will have to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work and abide by a three-month weekend curfew.

McCulloch had 122 microgrammes of alcohol in his system when he drove on various roads around the town on 24th April.

The offence happened just two weeks after he failed to stop and report an accident in a “tight” carpark at Mill Lane.

He kept moving again on 11th April after hitting a fence at the Gremista Industrial Estate. He had swerved to avoid a pallet that had been lying in the road.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said McCulloch had taken heed of previous warnings from Sheriff Graeme Napier.

“He’s lived under the pressure of the possibility of a custodial sentence. This is very much a wake-up call for him,” he said.

He said positive things could be drawn from a background report which had been compiled.

McCulloch had attended Shetland’s drug and alcohol service himself and had kept up with appointments regularly.

Sheriff Napier said he would spare McCulloch a jail term, but he warned he had provided a “huge reading”.

“This is on the cusp of going to prison,” he said.