A NURSE has pleaded guilty to driving at more than three times the legal drink limit.

Emma Griffiths, of Beechwood Drive, Glasgow, admitted driving with 76mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath on May 12 at Barnhill Road, Dumbarton, and elsewhere. The legal limit in Scotland is just 22mg.

Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard on Wednesday that the 43-year-old was first reported to police by an anonymous call while driving on the A82 near Luss. She was later stopped in Dumbarton.

Her defence solicitor said the senior practice nurse at a GP surgery had been out socialising with friends and the last drink she had was at 2am.

Griffiths was still awake hours later, and assumed she would be ok to drive.

“It came as a big surprise,” added her lawyer, “She has never been in trouble before. She is mortified. She felt fine to drive and clearly was not.”

Sheriff Maxwell Hendry said he would have hoped a nurse would have been better placed than an average member of the public to know how long alcohol could stay in the system.

He told Griffiths: “I’m sure it’s humiliating in the extreme. But it was a serious mistake in judgement.

“When someone is three-and-a-half times the limit, anything can happen. The possibilities are almost endless and that’s something you should consider for the remainder of your life.”

Griffiths was disqualified from driving for 18 months, but can reduce that by four months if she completes a drink driver rehabilitation course.

She was also fined £400.