AFTER his partner was hospitalised, Jamie Whigham was in the course of a telephone call to her father when his mobile phone battery ran low.
The 26-year-old decided to drive his girlfriend’s car to her father’s home to deliver the news, but veered towards an oncoming police car and was found to be over the drink-driving limit.
He was fined a total of £505 and banned from driving for 12 months. Whigham, of Everest Road, Earlston, was fined £135 after he drove a car at Albert Place, Galashiels, without insurance, and a further £135 for driving without due care and attention on January 12.
He was also fined £235 and banned for a year in respect of drink-driving – his breath/alcohol reading was 49 mcgs (the legal limit is 35). Whigham pleaded guilty to all charges.
Depute procurator fiscal Tessa Bradley said the accused’s partner became ill and drove herself to hospital, with Whigham a passenger in the vehicle. “She gave him her belongings, including the keys for her car,” explained Ms Bradley.
After she was admitted to hospital, at 1.20am, he said he was going outside to use the phone.
“At 1.40am, police on mobile patrol in Galashiels saw a car travelling at excessive speed and it veered into the face of their vehicle,” continued Ms Bradley.
The police officer took evasive action to avoid a collision, and a partial registration number of the car was noted.
Whigham told police he’d had “a couple of pints”.
The prosecutor said: “There was insurance for the vehicle, but he was not a named driver.”
Mark Harrower, defending, said Whigham had been with his partner when she was taken ill, but she had been able to drive to hospital.
“She was admitted and he was calling members of her family to tell them what had happened. His phone battery ran out, so he decided to drive to her father’s house and advise him what had happened,” the lawyer told the court.