Published: Friday, 22nd August, 2008 12:30pm

Tesco crash driver facing jail

A DRINK driver ploughed his car through a barrier at a supermarket after a day downing whisky and pints in a town centre pub.

The sheriff court heard how Alexander Gallacher, 62, was nearly three-and-a-half times the legal limit after losing control of the car and careering through the exit to Tesco"s car park.

The 62-year-old was warned he could be facing jail when he appeared before Sheriff Vincent Canavan yesterday.

Depute fiscal Nadine Dormer explained how on 31 July this year Gallacher had been supposed to head for the town to carry out some chores while his wife worked - but he headed straight for the pub instead.

She said: 'He went to the bookmakers and a bar in the centre of Greenock, where he spent the day drinking pints of lager and whisky.

'He then headed to Tesco to get some shopping and parked his car in the upper level. Then things took a turn for the worse.'

Miss Dormer described how Gallacher"s intoxicated state was discovered by police when he crashed his car.

She added: 'It was now around 4.10pm and a CCTV operator in the car park saw him coming down the ramp and going through a barrier and wedging the car between it and the pavement.

'Police were contacted and told the accused was in fact stuck inside the car.

'Officers approached and he rolled the window down and said to them "I"m alright. The engine light came on and the car rolled down the hill".

'The accused then admitted he had been drinking that day and said "I shouldn"t have driven".'

Gallacher, of Flatterton Road, Greenock, who was represented by defence solicitor Gerry Keenan during his appearance in the dock, admitted driving with 112 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath when the legal limit is 35.

Sheriff Canavan said: 'I will need to get background reports to tell me more about you because that might be what keeps you from going to jail.'

When approached by our reporter after his court appearance, Gallacher said: 'I just want to forget about it.'

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