A MOTORIST who was slurring his words and did not have a shoe on properly was more than three times the drink-drive limit three hours after being pulled over.

Matthew Evans was reported to police after he was seen leaving the Old Clubhouse pub and restaurant, Gullane, on March 30 last year.

Police followed his vehicle before activating their blue lights and pulling Evans over on the A6093 Dunbar Road in Haddington.

Evans, 42, exited the vehicle and was said to be “unsteady on his feet” and “slurring his words and smelling of alcohol”.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told that the officers also noticed Evans was “improperly wearing his left shoe”.

He failed a roadside breath test and, after being taken to St Leonard’s Police Station in Edinburgh, he provided a reading of 75mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 22mg.

The court was told that the accepted reading was taken more than three hours after Evans, of Lammermuir Crescent, Haddington, had initially been stopped by police.

Lawyer Melissa Virtue said unemployed Evans had been out for a meal and “erroneously thought after time passing he would be fine to drive and not be over the limit”.

Sheriff Derek O’Carroll issued Evans with a 21-month driving ban and fined him a total of £640.