Thousands of drivers including a taxi driver were stopped by police over the festive season for driving over the limit.

The number of motorists breathalysed was almost double the ratio from the year before.

One in every 15 drivers breathalysed by officers were over the limit, the force have revealed.

Among those snared was a motorist caught driving erratically in East Kilbride who was found to be seven times over the limit at the roadside.

Read more: Road accident numbers rise AFTER stricter drink-driving limit

Elsewhere, officers in Falkirk stopped a taxi driver with no passengers.

The driver was found to be over three times over the limit at the roadside and subsequently banned for 16 months and fined £500.

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams said: “I am very disappointed that of the 8,632 drivers stopped and breathalysed during our Festive Road Safety Campaign, we caught 565 people for drink/drug driving offences.

"This means that one in every 15 drivers breathalysed by officers were over the limit, compared with one in 28 during the same period in 2017/18.”

An average of 261 drivers were breathalysed every day during the campaign period, which ran from December 1 2018 to January 2, 2019. Of the 565 detected, 23 were caught driving the morning after they had been drinking.

Read more: Road accident numbers rise AFTER stricter drink-driving limit

ACC Williams added: “It was very alarming that during this period, 33 motorists were caught more than four times over the limit.

During the campaign Police Scotland made 64 vehicle forfeitures requests to the Procurator Fiscal as a result of drink driving.

ACC Williams said he was encouraged by the number of calls received from members of the public providing accurate information about drink drivers, which helped officers to act promptly and stop them.

He added that the reduced number of people being stopped was due to a more targeted approach based on previous information about offending and calls from the public to Police or Crimestoppers.