Drunken lorry driver banned for 43 months

A LORRY driver was caught more than three times over the drink-drive limit with hazardous cargo on board.

David Irvine’s 40-tonne truck was packed with caustic soda, a powerful paint stripper and drain cleaner.

Staff at Glen Turner Distillery in Bathgate, West Lothian, called police after a security guard raised concerns about Irvine’s “strange” manner.

Catherine Knowles, prosecuting, said: “He [the guard] had difficulty understanding him and the accused seemed lethargic.”

When officers arrived, they found the curtains of Irvine’s lorry cab drawn, but knocked on the door and managed to rouse the driver, who seemed to have been asleep.

Miss Knowles said: “He was asked if he’d consumed any alcohol and he produced two cans of lager. A number of empty cider cans were found in the vehicle.” Irvine, 51, 
appeared for sentence at Livingston Sheriff Court yesterday after earlier pleading guilty to driving over the limit in May last year.

Gerry Whitton, defending, said his client had been out 
of work since the incident 
and had separated from his wife.

Sheriff Douglas Kinloch sentenced Irvine, from Perth, to carry out 165 hours of unpaid work and banned him from driving for 43 months.