Massone fined, banned and dumped - in one week

Aug 6 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

IT was not a good week for former Livingston Football Club chairman Angelo Massone.

Firstly the Italian was forced out of the West Lothian club after he ran the business into the ground to the verge of it being hours away from going into administration.

Then on Thursday at Edinburgh Sheriff Court the 38 year old was handed a year driving ban and an £800 fine after he admitted being drunk in charge of a car.

Massone was found slumped over the steering wheel of his car on November 29 last year.

The car was stationary in Edinburgh’s Bonnington Road, but the engine was running and the window was down.

The court heard that a passing taxi driver was so concerned he called the police and an ambulance after he spotted the former Livi chairman.

At first the police thought Massone was asleep, but then noticed a strong smell of alcohol.

Procurator Fiscal depute Lisa Welsh said when Massone was asked to get out of the car he was unsteady on his feet.

Massone was asked to provide a specimen of breath but told officers he could not talk or understand English.

He was taken to St Leonards Police Station where he continued his claims of not being to understand police requests for a sample.

Massone was then given a sheet explaining his rights in Italian but he told officers it was not required as he could understand English and threw it to the ground.

At around 6.45am — more than three hours after he had been found — he provided two specimens of breath.

The lowest of these registered 59 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml of breath — one-and-a-half times the legal limit of 35mg in 100ml.

Last week at the court Massone, whose address was given as St Bernard’s Crescent, Edinburgh, pled guilty to the offence.

Massone’s solicitor, Graeme Clark, told the court his client spoke English in conversation and his understanding had improved since coming to Scotland in June last year when he took control of Livingston.

Mr Clark said Massone had been at a restaurant and had parked the car intending to take a taxi home and return for the car later that day.

He said Massone had felt unwell and sat in the car with the window open to recover and get the taxi.

The solicitor said Massone was the majority shareholder of a limited company which had severe financial difficulties.

His client, he added, was experiencing great professional difficulties at present and had a very hectic schedule.

Mr Clark said that while Massone derived no income from the football club he was a qualified lawyer in Italy and could pay a fine.

Fining Massone and banning him from the roads Sheriff Mhairi Stephen said: “Clearly the circumstances indicate you must have consumed a significant amount of alcohol when you decided to get into your car and were seen by the passing taxi driver.

“Certainly the lower reading is 59mg per 100ml and I think it is fair to say that is likely to be lower than the actual alcohol consumed which we will never know.

“Having regard to the seriousness of the consequences of alcohol and the use of a vehicle I think this is an appropriate case for disqualification.”