A drink-driver ploughed his BMW 4×4 into a parked car then smashed into a garden wall, before fleeing the scene of the crash and driving around an affluent area of Aberdeen in his wrecked vehicle.
Craig Truscott had been drinking at the Bieldside Inn on Wednesday, August 8, when he was refused service and asked to leave after becoming “loud”.
A taxi was called to take the 33-year-old to his home, on Oldfold Avenue in Milltimber, but he slipped out of a side door and got into his white BMW X6 estate car.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday heard that the accused sparked alarm as he weaved onto Marchbank Road, and a worried member of the public called the police.
Fiscal Anna Chisholm said that, 10 minutes later, several residents on Binghill Road “heard a loud bang”.
She said: “The accused had collided with a parked car on the street then mounted the pavement and collided with a garden wall.”
The blue Honda Accord Truscott hit was thought to be worth £1,000, and was written off in the collision.
But, despite his own vehicle being significantly damaged in the crash, Truscott still drove away from the scene.
Witnesses told the police that smoke was billowing from the BMW, which was “making a loud noise” and had one wheel “sitting at an angle”.
Ms Chisholm explained that Truscott risked striking pedestrians as he was “swerving across the road” while making his ill-conceived getaway.
Police visited his property that night, but Truscott had not returned home.
The next day, the 33-year-old went to Queen Street police station and turned himself in.
Truscott later admitted a charge of driving dangerously, driving at “excessive speed” and swerving across the carriageway while under the influence.
His defence agent, Gregor Kelly, claimed that Truscott had a drinking problem which he had taken steps to address.
Sheriff Andrew Miller deferred sentence in order to obtain reports, but banned Truscott from driving until his sentencing at the end of the month.