A pair of pensioners have been ordered to pay nearly £5,000 after going on a drunken rampage in a hotel.
Former chartered surveyor Robert Fergus and his wife Ruth threatened staff with scissors at the MacDonald Kinlock Rannoch Hotel forcing them to flee the building.
The couple were guests at the picturesque three-star hotel in Kinloch Rannoch, Perthshire when they started behaving bizarrely after drinking all day.
Mr Fergus, 72 and his 69-year-old wife, from Troon in South Ayrshire, smashed glass doors and threatened to shoot staff during the incident.
Former chartered surveyor Robert Fergus and his wife Ruth (pictured), of Troon, South Ayrshire, threatened staff with scissors at the MacDonald Kinlock Rannoch Hotel, forcing them to flee the building
The couple were guests at the picturesque three-star hotel in Kinloch Rannoch (above), Perthshire, when they started behaving bizarrely after drinking all day
After driving away from the hotel in their £65,000 BMW, the couple then flagged down police, accusing staff of trying to kill them.
Smelling alcohol on the pair, officers breathalysed Mr Fergus and found he was twice over the drink drive limit.
Perth Sherrif Court heard the incident in February began when the couple started banging on hotel guests doors at around 1.45am before threatening staff with violence when they tried to intervene.
Mr Fergus was brandishing a pair of scissors as he screamed abuse in the hotel lobby and his wife shouted at one female member of staff, ‘I’m going to get a gun and shoot you’.
He then told another staff member: ‘I’m going to slit you and kill you’ and also picked up a sign which he used to smash glass-panelled doors.
As terrified staff fled the hotel, the couple returned to their rooms to pack before driving off towards Perth.
Mr Fergus was fined £2,750 and ordered to pay the hotel a further £800 in compensation. He was also banned from driving for 12 months. His wife was fined a further £1,350
The court heard they flagged down a passing police car as they neared Tummel Bridge and accused staff of attacking them. Mr Fergus’s intoxicated state swiftly became apparent.
He gave a positive breath test but told officers: ‘I had no intention of driving but I was forced to. Our lives were in danger from hotel staff.’
Shortly after attending at the hotel – and after viewing CCTV footage of the past few hours – the officers reached a different conclusion.
The couple, of Balcomie Court in Troon, admitted behaving in a threatening and abusive manner on February 4 this year.
Mr Fergus also admitted smashing glass pane doors within the hotel and causing extensive damage to servers by cutting cables and causing £800 of damage.
He further admitted driving his BMW on the B864 Kinloch Rannoch to Tummel Bridge road while twice the legal alcohol limit (43 micrograms).
Solicitor Ewan Cameron said: ‘This was a thoroughly unfortunate incident and it was undoubtedly terrifying for the hotel staff.
‘It was abhorrent conduct on the part of Mr Fergus but he is a 72-year-old man with no previous convictions and it is hugely uncharacteristic on his part.
‘His memory of what happened is hazy because of the sizeable amount of alcohol he had consumed and evidence of his confused state is apparent when he told police officers he and his wife were the victims.
‘He was taken aback at hearing the full details of his wrongdoing.’
The solicitor said the retired chartered surveyor had previously been of good character and was both a senior committee member at his local rugby club and a member of the fundraising committee for a local school for disabled children.
Sheriff Gillian Wade told Mr Fergus: ‘This is a very sorry state of affairs and it gives me no pleasure to see you here at the age of 72 and as a first offender.
‘It is extremely regrettable but these are obviously serious offences and they must have caused hotel staff considerable concern.’
Mr Fergus was fined £2,750 and ordered to pay the hotel a further £800 in compensation. He was also banned from driving for 12 months.
His wife was fined a further £1,350.
Both Mr Fergus and MacDonald Hotels declined to comment on the incident.