A DRUG driver who threatened police has been spared prison - after his lawyer told a sheriff the offences were 'out of character' for him.

Peter Duffy, 38, had been caught behind the wheel of a powerful BMW 5 Series M Sport car whilst unfit to drive through drink or drugs.

The forestry worker then verbally abused officers who had stopped his vehicle on Greenock's Grieve Road.

Defence solicitor David Tod urged Sheriff Andrew McIntyre to limit his client's mandatory roads ban.

Mr Tod said: "He is working in a forestry site at present where he doesn't need a licence, however, he will lose his employment when it moves off site.

"There could be a period of unpaid work and his disqualification period kept to a minimum to allow him to work again at the earliest opportunity?"

Duffy pleaded guilty to the driving offence and to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards the police during the incident on February 11.

He had also been charged with cocaine possession, repeatedly struggling with officers in a bid to prevent his arrest and failing to provide blood samples for analysis.

However, his not guilty pleas to these allegations were accepted.

Solicitor Mr Tod said: "He is an individual who has never before created any difficulty for any police officer.

"This was totally out of character.

"By his own admission, to use the vernacular, he lost the plot."

Sheriff Andrew McIntyre told Duffy: "I take into account that you have no history of this type of offending, and you are almost 40."

Duffy, of Neil Street, was banned from the roads for a year and ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work within six months and an alternative to a custodial sentence.