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Taxi driver in Cowdenbeath caught drink-driving
A DUNFERMLINE taxi driver employed to take children to school was caught drink-driving when more than twice the limit.
Police had received a report that Gurmit Singh had been drunk behind the wheel when taking pupils to school.
Singh said he had been drinking whisky the night before and a sheriff commented he must have knocked back a “bucket-load of it".
When officers stopped him the next morning, Singh was smelling of alcohol and his eyes were glazed.
Singh, 39, of Pitcairn Street, appeared for sentencing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.
He admitted that on August 27, in Drylie Street, Cowdenbeath, he drove a car having consumed excess alcohol.
His reading was 54 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 22 microgrammes.
Depute fiscal Jill Currie said: “On 26th August, police received information that the accused had been driving a taxi under the influence when picking up children in Drylie Street, Cowdenbeath.
“The next day, officers were tasked to trace the accused and did so in Drylie Street at 8.40am.
“When the officers spoke to him, they could see his eyes were blood-shot and glazed. Even though he was wearing a face mask and was chewing gum, they could smell alcohol from his breath.”
Singh failed a roadside breath test and then another at the police station.
Defence solicitor Paul Donnachie said his client had not taken pupils to school on the morning he was stopped and pointed out he had now lost his taxi driver’s licence.
He added: “He had been drinking whisky the night before, which is not his usual tipple.”
Sheriff Alastair Brown said: “He must have had a bucket-load of it if this was his reading in the morning.”
Sheriff Brown fined Singh £600 and banned him from driving for 16 months.
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