80-year-old Borderer fined £400 and given one-year road ban for drink-driving

George Brown was suspected of being over the limit while buying a bottle of whisky at the Premier shop in Greenlaw at 6.30pm on Monday, November 11, on the way to a meeting.

The police were not able to track him down to his home just outside Duns until 9.10pm, and he gave a breath-alcohol reading of 48 microgrammes then, the legal limit being 22.

Defence lawyer Mark Harrower said the mandatory ban his client faced would be a major inconvenience due to the remote location of his home.

Sheriff Donald Ferguson told Brown he shouldn’t have been drinking during the day if he knew he would be driving to a meeting later on, however.

As well as being banned, Brown was fined £400.