Highland drink driver blames 'vodka jelly'

A bar manager has been allowed to keep her licence after being convicted of a drink-driving offence.

Donna Forbes, 30, told Inverness Sheriff Court that she had unwittingly consumed jelly laced with vodka.

Forbes was fined £400 and her licence was endorsed with six penalty points.

The man who made the jellies, 19-year-old John Fraser, told the court he had used two litre bottles and a further half-litre bottle of vodka in jelly he made for guests at a party.

I will be more careful next time and never eat jelly again”

Forbes, of Orchard Park in Beauly, insisted she had only taken soft drinks at the party on 15 May, 2011. She had, however, eaten jelly prepared by John Fraser.

She was stopped by police as she drove home, after they noticed a faulty light on her car.

Forbes recorded a level of 52 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

Outside court, Donna Forbes said: "I am glad this is all over. It has been 18 months waiting for this outcome but it was worth waiting for.

"I am so grateful to John MacColl and the Sheriff for believing in me. I would have lost my job if I had lost my licence.

"I will be more careful next time and never eat jelly again."