Drive ban for learner and teacher

Beaton was fined a total of £500

A driving instructor and teenage pupil have been convicted of drink driving offences after their car careered off a road and ploughed into a field.

Robert King, 42, was cleared of dangerous driving but 19-year-old pupil Susan Beaton was found guilty of careless driving in Stirlingshire.

Both were fined and disqualified for drink driving offences.

Beaton, from Balfron, was found to be over the limit and King, of Callander, refused to give breath specimens.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard that the car driven by Beaton crossed two lanes, crashed through a wooden fence and landed on its roof in a field in the Campsie Fells in June 2003.

Cyclist James Donohoe, 33, witnessed the incident. Giving evidence, he said that when he went to help, he could smell alcohol on both accused, and the car, which had no L-plates, was strewn with empty vodka bottles, beer cans and cigarettes.

'Flying round corner'

Police constable Gregor Myles, 44, told the court that in interview, King said he was the owner of the car, but admitted Beaton had been driving at the time of the accident.

He said that King told police he had no control over the car's dual controls because Beaton "was flying round the corner at 60 mph".

PC Myles said: "While speaking to him we could smell alcohol on his breath. When required to give a specimen of breath, he refused and said 'I'm not blowing into it'."

King said he had no control over the car

Beaton's defence agent Mark Lunny told the court that his client had drunk alcohol assuming that King would drive but since he had also been drinking, she "stupidly continued to drive".

King's solicitor Brian Mohan said the incident had left his client unemployed and with a nervous condition.

Sheriff Brian Adair fined Beaton £150 for careless driving and a further £350 on the charge of drink driving.

He fined King £100 for failing to take the roadside test and a further £400 for refusing to give a breath sample for analysis.

Both were disqualified from driving for 12 months.