An aspiring pilot has been caught driving a car while more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. Juanita Smith, who had hoped to gain a licence to fly at the end of 2025, was spotted driving in a “particularly careful and cautious” fashion by police in Inverness. When officers stopped her on the city’s Glebe Street she failed a roadside breath test.
Smith, 22, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit a single charge of drink-driving in relation to the incident on October 18 of last year. A sheriff said she was surprised Smith could even walk to her car, “let alone drive”. ‘Careful and cautious’ driving Fiscal depute Robert Weir told the court it was 12.
45am when officers spotted her vehicle. He said: “There was no problem with the driving, they thought the driving was particularly careful and cautious”. Smith failed a roadside breath test and was arrested, further testing confirmed her breath alcohol level to be 118 microgrammes per 100ml of breath – more than five times the limit of 22 microgrammes.
Solicitor Marc Dickson, for Smith, said at the time of the incident his client had recently been “the unfortunate recipient of a criminal act” which had led her to being “upset and nervous” about going out unaccompanied. He said, on the night in question, Smith, who works in hospitality, had been visited by a friend who has come to “offer her some support”. Smith had drunk alcohol with no intention of driving, but when her friend announc.
