Police acting on a tip-off found a grossly intoxicated Campbell Norris sitting in a blue Vauxhall Corsa SXI with the vehicle’s key in the ignition.

Greenock Sheriff Court heard how the 42-year-old Gourock man had gone on a booze binge shortly after being made redundant from his job.

Norris had been charged with drink driving at the excessive level but prosecutors accepted his guilty plea to the less serious offence of being ‘in charge’ of the car. The locations of the offence he admitted to were named in court papers as Greenock’s ‘Cathcart Street, Grey Place and elsewhere’.

Prosecutor Joanne Gilmour told how officers came across Norris at around 4pm on the afternoon of 27 May.

The fiscal depute said: “Police received a call and they drove along Cathcart Street. They later observed a motor vehicle which was stationary in Grey Place with one tyre flat.

“The key was in the ignition but the engine was not running.

“Officers detected a strong smell of alcohol from the accused.

“He provided a roadside breath test and was then taken to Greenock police office.

“When cautioned and charged the accused said, ‘I do understand, but I didn’t actually drive the car — I sat in the car’.” Norris had at least 155 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of his breath when he was arrested. The legal limit is 22mg.

The Telegraph told in July how Sheriff Iain Fleming allowed him to carry on driving until his sentencing hearing yesterday.

In permitting Norris to keep his licence for several weeks following his guilty plea, Sheriff Fleming said last month: “I will not disqualify him at this stage.” Defence lawyer David Tod told the court yesterday: “The matter is exacerbated by the fact that Mr Norris was made redundant.

“He had phoned his partner to come and get him. He had been in and out of the car. When he gets his head together he is someone who is eminently employable.

“Mr Norris has been diagnosed with depression and he is now receiving treatment for that.” Sheriff Fleming noted: “It is a very high level.” He then told Norris: “I appreciate the fact that the engine was not running and that you were drunk in charge of the car.

“That allows me to limit the disqualification period to one of nine months.” Norris, of Hilltop Crescent in Gourock, was also ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work within six months.