A driver who drove with just under seven times the legal drink limit in his system, has been jailed for six months.

Peter McPhillips, 45, was also banned from driving for two years, ordered to re-sit a test before regaining his licence and had his car seized.

McPhillips, who had been working in the Carlisle area, admitted committing the offence at the weekend on the B723 Road near Lockerbie and Hoddom Castle at Ecclefechan.

At Dumfries Sheriff Court, he also pleaded guilty to driving dangerously on the M74 and the B723 road in an erratic manner, swerving and causing other drivers to take evasive action.

Fiscal depute Pamela Rhodes said it was 6.30pm when police received reports about a vehicle being driven in an erratic fashion.

Police on the M74 near Ecclefechan saw the car driving from one lane to another and almost hitting the central barrier – with other drivers taking evasive
action.

Officers lost sight of it as it went off the motorway but 10 minutes later received reports of a driver having to swerve to avoid a collision with a car coming straight towards him and then found it abandoned.

Police found McPhillips, of St Ninian’s Road, Moffat, was staggering on the roadway and smelling of drink. He was said to have problems with drink.