A HIGH VALLEYFIELD nurse suspected of drink-driving shouted and swore at police then refused to give breath samples.

Karen Sweeney-Price claimed that she could not carry out the test procedures properly because she had a chest infection.

However, this explanation was rejected after a trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court and she has been banned from driving.

A court heard that police had to handcuff the woman because of her aggressive attitude at the police station but she claimed officers were lying in court about her behaviour towards them.

Sweeney-Price, 49, of Forth Crescent, was convicted of the two charges she faced.

She had denied that on October 22, at Chapel Street, High Valleyfield, she failed to co-operate with a preliminary breath test when suspected of being under the influence of alcohol.

She also denied that at Dunfermline police station, she failed to provide two specimens of breath for analysis to ascertain the proportion of alcohol in her breath.

PC Dale Clark said that, at around 1pm, he and a colleague were called to the Co-op store in the village on an unrelated matter.

A member of staff then raised concerns that a customer had been smelling strongly of alcohol and was about to drive away.

PC Clark said the vehicle pointed out to them had not been parked there when they had arrived at the store.

The officer said Sweeney-Price was in the driver’s seat and was trying to put on her seat belt.

The mental health nurse claimed that she had not been driving and that she had parked the car there the night before.

The officers told her that was not possible as that parking space had been vacant shortly before.

PC Clark said Sweeney-Price was “smelling strongly of alcohol, her eyes were glazed over and she was unsteady on her feet”.

When she was challenged about her story, “She called me a liar,” said the officer.

He went on: “She was in a bit of a rage. She started shouting in our faces telling us to go and catch murderers. She was shouting: ‘I’m a f****** nurse’. She told us repeatedly to f*** off.”

At around 1.20pm, she was arrested for not providing a roadside breath sample.

Taken to Dunfermline police station, she continued “ranting, shouting and swearing”, said the constable, and she had to be handcuffed. She then failed to complete the breath test procedures at the station.

Sheriff Charles MacNair found Sweeney-Price guilty. She was banned from driving for a year and fined £650.