A DRIVER who was four-and-a-half times the alcohol limit some 11 hours after his last drink was fined £2,000 and banned from the roads for 29 months.
First offender Gerd Friese had drunk into the early hours of the morning after watching his native Germany in a televised football match.
He was breath-tested the following afternoon after hitting another car. Friese claimed to have only briefly taken over the wheel when the initial driver was struggling to negotiate parked cars.
Friese, 44, of Langhaugh Farm, Peebles, pleaded guilty to driving in Cross Street on June 23 with a breath/alcohol reading of 160mcgs – the legal limit is 35.
“This happened in a residential street in Peebles, with limited access, and which has vehicles parked on both sides of the road,” explained depute procurator fiscal Tessa Bradley, adding: “It was the local Beltane Festival and it was busy.”
A family in their car became aware of a people carrier coming up behind them and trying to pass. They then felt the impact as it collided with their vehicle.
When the husband got out to speak to the driver, he noted he was slurring his words and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. When police arrived, Friese was sitting in the passenger seat of the people carrier, but the couple in the other vehicle identified him as the driver at the time of the collision.
Friese confirmed to police he had been driving. “It was my accident. It is my fault,” he said.
Defending, Robert More said his client was co-operative with police and never denied he had been driving.
“He had been drinking with friends the previous evening and into the early hours of the morning,” explained Mr More.
“He is from Germany and they had been watching Germany play in a football match, and he had been drinking vodka and also beer. He finished drinking at about 3am and the reading was given more that 11 hours later,” added Mr More, who conceded it was the highest alcohol reading he had dealt with.
The lawyer said Friese owned his own contracting company and the people carrier was a company vehicle. “The passenger works for him and drove them from his home at Langhaugh Farm into Peebles. They had been at the supermarket and he tried to get through a gap which was too tight, so the accused said he would try and the other man directed him.”
Mr More said the vehicle was seized by police and Friese had to pay £500 to get it back.
Sheriff Kevin Drummond described the reading as “extraordinarily high”, but refused a Crown motion for forfeiture of the people carrier, valued at 18,000 euros.
“It is a vehicle used in the course of his business for his employees,” he said.