Suspected Dounreay drink-driver failed to co-operate with police
A suspected drink-driver who refused to tell police who had been at the wheel of his car was fined £400 at Wick Sheriff Court.
Sixty-one-year-old crofter Richard Newton was also banned from driving for three months after he pleaded guilty.
Sheriff Neil Wilson heard that police acting on a tip-off about a male driver called at Newton's home at Rowan Cottage, Upper Dounreay, on February 2, 2022.
Subscribe to receive regular email newslettersFiscal Depute Grant McLennan said that an officer noted the engine of a Nissan Navara, for which Newton was the registered keeper, was warm.
Newton was required to identify the driver suspected of a drink-driving offence but failed to do so and was arrested.
Sheriff Wilson said he took the offence "very seriously indeed".
He said Newton was required to co-operate in identifying the driver of his vehicle but had not done so and disqualification was inevitable.
