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Retired banker’s car crash broke two elderly women’s breastbones

Robert Thomas, 75, had been driving without incident since the age of 17 before he caused a frightening crash on the A920 Pitmedden to Oldmeldrum road near Tarves.

Robert Thomas leaving Aberdeen Sheriff Court.  Image: DC Thomson
Robert Thomas leaving Aberdeen Sheriff Court. Image: DC Thomson

A retired banker has admitted causing a terrifying crash that left two elderly women seriously injured near Tarves.

Robert Thomas, 75, failed to check it was safe to pull out in front of an oncoming vehicle on the A920 Pitmedden to Oldmeldrum road.

The driver of the oncoming car, whose passengers included her mother and another elderly relative, had no time to react and collided with Thomas’ car.

The frightening collision left both the woman’s passengers with broken sternums.

Fiscal depute Lydia Williams told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the incident happened around 2.25pm on June 18 last year.

‘He thought he’d checked to the right’

She said that the woman approached the A920’s junction with an unclassified road near Tarves when “without warning” Thomas pulled out directly into her path.

“She attempted to avoid his vehicle but was unable to do so due to having insufficient time,” Mrs Williams explained.

The police and paramedics raced to the crash scene and the two elderly passengers were taken to hospital, where they remained for three and four nights.

Robert Thomas outside the court. Image: DC Thomson

Both had suffered fractures to their sternums that were estimated to take between six and eight weeks to heal.

Thomas, of Strichen, pled guilty to causing serious injury by careless driving.

Defence agent Gregor Kelly offered apologies on behalf of his client to the two women who were injured in the crash and wished them well.

He added that insurance action was being dealt with separately.

Driving ban will make pensioner’s farmhouse lifestyle ‘extremely difficult’

Mr Kelly explained that Thomas accepted full responsibility for the incident.

“He makes appropriate checks to his left. He thought he’d checked to the right and set off – right in front of the other vehicle,” the solicitor explained.

He also described the incident as an “aberration”, adding: “Clearly there have been serious consequences and he’s living with those consequences.”

Mr Kelly said the 75-year-old had been driving since the age of 17 without incident.

He said Thomas, who had a “successful career in banking”, has since retired from it to living at a farmhouse in Strichen, where a driving ban would make his life “extremely difficult”.

Sheriff James Hastie fined Thomas £520 and banned him from driving for 12 months.

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