Drink drive ban for brewer

Ribbens went into Stornoway to hail a taxis

An award-winning brewer from the Outer Hebrides has been banned from driving after he admitted being over the drink drive limit.

Andrew Murdo Ribbens, from Lewis, pleaded guilty to driving a van on Ferry Road in Stornoway in September last year while having exceeded the prescribed alcohol limit.

He also admitted a previous conviction for a similar offence in 1997.

Ribbens appeared at Stronoway Sheriff Court on Tuesday where he was banned from driving for three years and fined £150.

Procurator Fiscal David Teale said that it was in the early hours of the morning that police saw the Transit van.

The vehicle was stopped and officers spoke to Ribbens who was breath tested.

Solicitor Iain Maciver, who appeared for Ribbens, said his client operated the only brewery in Stornoway - the Hebridean Brewery - and last month won a silver medal in the Society of Independent Brewers in Scotland.

'No intention of driving'

On the evening concerned he drove to a wedding reception. After the celebration he walked through the town with the intention of getting a taxi home, but he found the taxi rank busy.

Mr Maciver said his client then went to his van and saw a group of youths around it and asked them to move away.

He decided to drive his van to the brewery and leave it there for the night.

Ribbens had no intention of using the vehicle, he simply wanted to protect his property, said Mr Maciver.

He pointed out that his client was only marginally over the limit.

Sheriff Ian G Inglis told the accused that as he had a previous conviction within the last decade he would be disqualified for three years.

But he accepted that the excess alcohol was not as high as other cases before the court.