Police who stopped a car transporter on the A9 found the driver was almost five times the alcohol limit.
Officers also discovered a pack of lager with three cans missing in 50-year-old Dean Lightfoot’s cab when they intercepted him just outside Inverness.
Lightfoot, from Alders Edge, Carlisle, had dropped off luxury cars at the Mercedes Benz garage in Inverness on February 24.
But staff there smelt alcohol on his breath, reported him to police and his transporter was stopped near Bogbain Farm.
A breath test revealed he was almost five times the legal limit. He appeared from custody the following day and admitted driving with 107mcg of alcohol in his breath. The legal limit is 22mcg.
At Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday, Sheriff Sara Matheson ordered him to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work and banned him from driving for 14 months.
She said Lightfoot “could have caused many deaths”, but added: “Given that you have no record, I can deal with this by a sentence in the community.”
