Livi boss Massone gets ban for being drunk in charge of car

Published on Friday 31 July 2009 10:02

THE under-fire chairman of Livingston Football Club, Angelo Massone, has been fined £800 and banned from driving for a year after pleading guilty to being drunk in charge of a car.

Massone, 38, of St Bernard's Crescent, Edinburgh, was found slumped over the steering wheel of his car at 3:30am on 29 November last year. The car was stationary in Bonnington Road, but the engine was running.

At Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday, Fiscal Depute Lisa Welsh told Sheriff Mhairi Stephen that a passing taxi driver was so concerned with what he saw that he called the police and ambulance. At first the police thought Massone was asleep, but detected a strong smell of alcohol. Massone was asked to provide a specimen of breath, but, said Ms Welsh, he told the police he could not talk or understand English.

Defence solicitor Graeme Clark said his client spoke English in conversation and his understanding had improved since coming to this country. Massone, he added, had been at a restaurant.

He had parked the car intending to take a taxi home and come back for the car late that afternoon. He had felt unwell and sat in the car with the window open to recover and get the taxi.