Drunk driving student asked by judge whether ‘mummy and daddy’ would be paying her fine

A student at The University of St Andrews found guilty of drunk driving was asked by the judge whether “mummy and daddy” would be paying her fine.

Gina Feichtinger was asked by Judge Timothy Niven-Smith: “So Mummy and Daddy will be paying the fine?” as she was being sentenced at Dundee sheriff court.

She told the court her parents, who live in Liechtenstein, are paying for her to go to uni in Scotland, where she’s in her second year studying  Geography and Sustainability Development.

The 20-year-old student was banned from driving for 12 months and fined £600 after she admitted driving while she was over the legal limit. The judge said he might impose unpaid work instead, but was persuaded not to by her lawyer.

The court was told that she had been pulled over in her Mini Cooper in Fife on the 9th March and initially drove off before being stopped again. The police officers who stopped her realised from her eyes and the strong smell of alcohol coming from her that she was drunk.

She failed a roadside breath test and was taken to the police station in Dundee where a formal drink-drive test found she was nearly three times over the limit.

Via Canva

Her solicitor, David Duncan, said: “The car is hers. She was volunteering at a student event during the day and at the conclusion of the event drink was taken by various persons involved. At that stage she realised if she was going to be partaking of alcohol she would have to leave her car overnight and that was her intention.

“Unfortunately, where she had parked originally did not allow for that. She realised the car was in the wrong place to park. What she should have realised was that she wasn’t fit to drive it. I think there was a certain naivety on her part. She is supported by her family.”

St Andrews is a hugely prestigious university, with a stereotype of being very posh, It consistently ranks highly and sometimes even better than Oxford and Cambridge in the league tables. St Andrews is also famously the university attended by several members of the royal family.

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Featured image via Wirestock Creators/Shutterstock.