Edward Murdoch, of Crosslet Road was stopped by cops in the street where he lives on September 22. When they carried out a roadside breath test the sample he provided gave a reading of 148mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, the legal limit is 35mg.

John Service, fiscal depute, told Dumbarton Sheriff Court: “The incident took place at 8.40pm. Police were called and told that a person was under the influence of drink and driving a camper van from St James’ Retail Park in Dumbarton.

“They carried out enquiries and the accused was seen driving the camper van.

“They spoke to him and it was obvious to them that he had a smell of alcohol coming from him.

“Further enquiries revealed that he was not insured to drive the vehicle.” The cops discovered that not only was 37-year-old Murdoch not insured, he wasn’t licensed to drive either being only a provisional licence holder.

Furthermore, he was not displaying L-plates on the vehicle and he did not have a qualified driver with him.

Defence solicitor Gail Campbell said in mitigation: “He is 37 and old enough to realise the significance of this extremely high reading. What is clear is that Mr Murdoch has a very long-standing problem with alcohol addiction. Clearly he has to address these problems.” Sheriff John Rafferty deferred sentence to allow for a supplementary criminal justice social work report to be carried out examining Murdoch’s suitability for alcohol counselling.

The matter will call again on December 9.