Alcohol expert given driving ban

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A government alcohol abuse expert has been banned from driving after he was caught drink driving twice.

Paul Yates MBE, 57, was also fined £1,500 at Perth Sheriff Court for the offences committed in August 2006 and December last year.

Yates' solicitor said his client found the case "ironic" and "regretful".

As author of "Alcohol and the criminal justice system in Scotland", Yates is also a member of the Scottish Addiction Studies Group at Stirling University.

The court was told that the research fellow, was spotted by a taxi driver on 4 August, 2006, leaving a pub in Crieff and staggering across the road to his car.

The taxi driver followed him for more than a mile after Yates stopped off at a takeaway, and witnessed the vehicle weaving from side to side.

I have listened very carefully to all that has been said and I regret that I do not find your evidence convincing Sheriff Lindsay Foulis

When officers arrived at Yates' home an hour later, he told them he had downed "a half and a half" in the pub before retiring to his garden shed and taking a swig of whisky.

The alcohol expert said he was downing whisky in his shed because he was afraid his wife would find out he was drinking.

It was while awaiting trial that Tayside Police spotted Yates in his mud-caked 4x4 in December.

When officers stopped the vehicle because the licence plate was obscured, they smelled alcohol on Yates' breath.

'Significant amount'

He admitted driving his Vauxhall Frontera close to Blair's Farm in Auchterarder while nearly twice the legal alcohol limit.

During the proceedings, the court heard evidence that to have a reading nearly double the drink drive limit, Yates would have to have consumed three large glasses of wine.

Defence agent Virgil Crawford told the court of his client: "He holds senior positions in various organisations both nationally and internationally.

"Against that, he does find it ironic and regretful that he finds himself before the court for these offences."

In finding him guilty of the first breach in August 2006, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis "It seems strange to be going out to your shed to have a glass of whisky.

"You would have had to drink a significant amount over a relatively short space of time prior to the arrival of police.

"I have listened very carefully to all that has been said and I regret that I do not find your evidence convincing with regard to the alleged post-driving drinking."