Drink-drive menace is off the road

Feb 21 2008

A HAMILTON motorist who almost knocked down a pensioner outside a health centre while nearly four-times over the legal alcohol limit was this week fined and banned from driving for five years.

John Laird (57), of Semple Street, drove in Burnbank Court, with 136 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath on September 3 last year.

The legal limit for drink-driving is 35 microgrammes.

While drunk, he drove dangerously on a footpath beside Burnbank Health Centre and forced an 81-year-old woman to move out of the way to avoid being hit by the car.

Laird then failed to stop the vehicle after being requested to do so by police.

The 57-year-old admitted all three charges in January.

At Hamilton Sheriff Court last week, Sheriff Frank Pieri fined Laird £350 and disqualified him from driving for five years for the drink-driving offence.

Sheriff Pieri also fined him a further £220 for driving on the pavement.

Laird was admonished on the charge of having failed to stop for police.

It is not the first time Laird has been disqualified following a drink-drive conviction.

In March, 2003, he was given a £400 fine at Glasgow District Court and banned for 18 months for drink-driving.