A woman screamed for help as a forces veteran left her with “multiple” skull fractures by reversing over her in an Aberdeenshire town.
John Doyle, who served in the Gulf War and Northern Ireland as a driver for 10 years, was touring the north-east with a friend when he stopped in Banchory on October 9, 2018.
The 50-year-old realised he had mistakenly parked in a taxi rank on the High Street, and it was when he was trying to manoeuvre into the car park of the Stag Hotel that he “heard something like a knock on the car”.
Yesterday, Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that pedestrian Dorothy Skene sustained multiple skull fractures after being struck – and the “severe” injuries left her with a variety of problems including amnesia.
Doyle, who also admitted driving while uninsured, was banned from the road for 10 months and ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid work.
Fiscal depute, Katy Begg, told the court that it was daylight and there was good visibility at the time of the incident.
She said: “The complainer walked a short distance along the High Street in Banchory and looked both ways before crossing the road.
“While she was crossing the road at the taxi rank, the vehicle reversed until she was almost completely underneath it.
“She repeatedly shouted for the driver to stop.”
Defence lawyer Gail Goodfellow said that Doyle, of Poulson Drive in Bootle, near Liverpool, was on holiday with a friend and had been touring the Highlands.
They had rented out a black Nissan Qashqai, but only his friend was insured to drive it.
After the other man’s knee became too sore to go any further on the way back from Balmoral, Mr Doyle agreed to drive.
Ms Goodfellow told the court that the veteran, who suffers from PTSD and anxiety as a result of his time in the forces, had parked in a taxi rank by mistake.
She said: “Whilst there is an obligation on pedestrians to cross safely, Mr Doyle accepts that the driver has a responsibility to check the mirrors throughout.
“He said he heard something like a knock on the car. He checked the rear view mirror and didn’t see anything and continued to reverse.
“He was then startled by a pedestrian banging on the window and he stopped immediately.”
Sheriff Graeme Napier told Doyle that “reversing when you’re not able to see what is behind you is a dangerous thing to do”.