A motorist who overtook an unmarked police car in Moray before having to brake to avoid oncoming traffic has been banned from the roads.
Charley Christie, from Elgin, performed the manoeuvre on the emergency vehicle and another motorist just two months after passing his test.
Yesterday the 18-year-old appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court to plead guilty to driving dangerously during the overtake on January 10.
Fiscal Susan Love explained that police saw Christie starting the overtake as they approached a “blind bend” on the A96 Aberdeen to Inverness road near Fochabers.
She said: “At the time the police officers noted that they couldn’t see the full stretch of road ahead of them due to a bend on the road.
“When the accused was making the overtake another driver could see a vehicle travelling towards the accused opposite carriageway.
“The accused was seen to brake harshly to avoid a collision.”
Police traced Christie’s car later the same evening on Milton Drive in Buckie.
Defence solicitor Grant Daglish explained the incident had come about due to “immaturity” behind the wheel from his client.
Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov said: “The moral is to watch how you drive because you don’t know if there are unmarked police cars on the road.”
Christie, of Brodie Drive in Elgin, was given a 14-month driving ban and sentenced to 75 hours of unpaid work.