A driver caught at the wheel seven times the legal drink limit was so inebriated he did not know what day of the week it was.

Garry Barkhouse, 48, had drunk a bottle-and-a-half of vodka in one afternoon in September 2015, Falkirk Sheriff Court was told.

He was arrested at the wheel of his daughter's Vauxhall Astra in Bo'ness, West Lothian, after a call from a member of the public who phoned to say they had seen a car being driven by a drunk.

Traffic policeman Paul James said he and a colleague went to the scene of the sighting, in Corbiehall, Bo'ness, and saw Barkhouse drive slowly towards them and park.

PC James said he reached in through the open driver's window and turned off the engine and the sound system, which was playing loud music. The officer said it was "immediately apparent" that the driver was heavily under the influence.

He said: "He was kind of slumped, slurring his words, and smelling of alcohol. He was quite incoherent about where he was.

"I had to help him take get his seatbelt off. He was very unsteady on his feet and I had to physically conduct him to the rear of the police vehicle. At that point I noticed he had urinated himself.

"He told me he had fallen out with his partner and had been drinking heavily all weekend."

PC James's partner PC Gordon McCall, 48, added: "My colleague had to take hold of him under his arm and assist him to the patrol car because he was so unsteady.

"He said he had been out all weekend and he thought that Monday was still Sunday."

Barkhouse was taken to Falkirk police station and gave a breath sample that contained 157 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres, 7.13 times the legal limit of 22.

Barkhouse, of Links Road, Bo'ness, denied drink-driving and claimed he had just got into the car to get some tobacco. He said the police were "lying" when they said they had seen it moving.

Finding him guilty after a brief summary trial, sheriff Craig Caldwell said he had to weigh up "two competing versions" of evidence.

He said: "On the one hand I have the Crown case, from two sober and professional road policing officers with over 40 years experience between them. On the other hand I have an intoxicated, incoherent, and incontinent, individual who says he wasn't driving. I don't accept his evidence."

Sheriff Caldwell deferred sentence until February 2 for background reports.

He told Barkhouse: "You were over seven times the legal limit. You should have been nowhere near a car, but that was a decision that you took, and it put other road users and pedestrians at very significant risk indeed.

"It is likely, depending on the terms of any report, that I will conclude that only a prison sentence is appropriate, given the level of alcohol you had consumed."