A DRUNKEN MILLIONAIRE who drove an electric golf buggy down a main road with a pal in the passenger seat and another man clinging to the back after consuming nearly five times the legal limit of alcohol has narrowly escaped jail.
Colin Peat, 47, co-director of the biggest demolition company in Scotland, was fined, banned for six years, and ordered to perform unpaid work in place of prison.
Peat had been drinking all day at a charity event at Glenbervie Golf Club, Larbert before embarking on the "prank".
He took the buggy, which belonged to a friend, intending to park it among vehicles lined up for sale in a nearby used car lot.
But Falkirk Sheriff Court was told the first vehicle to pass Peat and his pals as the golf cart made its progress down Stirling Road, Larbert, was a police car.
Because he had been drinking so recently, officers allowed 20 minutes to elapse before administering a roadside breath test, which Peat failed. He was taken to Falkirk Police Station and gave a breath sample which contained 97 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres -- some 4.4 times the legal limit, which is 22.
It also transpired that he was also not insured to driving the unregistered vehicle on the public highway, and Peat was cautioned and charged.
Peat, of Antonine View, Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, pleaded guilty to drink-driving and driving without insurance.
Sheriff Linda Smith disqualified Peat -- whom the court heard was a "serial motoring offender" -- for six years, and fined him £400.
She also ordered him to perform 270 hours unpaid work, which she said was as an alternative to a term of imprisonment, and placed him under social work supervision for 18 months.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article