Drink-driver left toddler home alone to buy cigarettes

A toddler was left alone in a house as the woman who was supposed to be looking after her was found driving while she was nearly five times the alcohol limit.

Tracy Oswald was banned from driving for two years and fined £1,500 after she admitted the offence at Perth Sheriff Court.

Police officers stopped Oswald for a routine check and when they went to her home to confirm her driving documents they found a 19-month-old girl had been left unsupervised.

Fiscal depute Rebecca Kynaston told Perth Sheriff Court: "Officers were on mobile patrol in Bridge of Earn when they observed the accused's vehicle being driven.

"It was stopped for a routine documents check, but she did not have her documents with her. It was 5.45 pm. She said that if they attended her home nearby she could produce her documents.

"On speaking to the accused outside her home they detected a strong smell of alcohol. She said she had consumed two glasses of wine earlier in the day.

"She was arrested and informed police officers a 19-month-old girl was in the property on her own. Someone came to look after the child while Oswald was taken into custody."

The court was told that Oswald, 39, admitted to the officers that she had left the youngster alone to drive to a local shop to buy cigarettes.

Oswald, from Bridge of Earn, admitted drink driving in Bridge of Earn, Perthshire, on 26 September, while her reading was 106 mics. The limit is 22 mics.

Solicitor Paul Ralph, defending, said: "It's clear the child, although fine, was left in the house alone, while she made this brief journey. There is no good explanation for it."

The court was told that the part-time cleaner Oswald was in the process of selling her car and expected to raise £1,500 from the sale.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis fined her that amount and said: "You are in a bit of a hole at the moment and you have really got to make every effort to get out of it."

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