A man has been handed a driving ban after knocking down and injuring a 55-year-old woman outside Tesco in Aberdeen.
Stuart Mathieson, 57, didn’t spot the woman crossing the road with her shopping when he pulled out onto Rousay Drive.
The woman had almost reached the pavement when she was struck by Mathieson’s grey Ford Focus and knocked to the ground.
She was left with serious injuries including a fractured wrist and a deep laceration to her forehead.
Fiscal depute Stephanie Cardow told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the incident happened around 10am on April 10.
‘He is devastated to hear about the injuries sustained by the complainer’
She said the complainer, a woman aged 55 at the time, had been doing some shopping at Tesco and was crossing the road on her way back home.
Ms Cardow continued: “She observed a dark car at the junction of Rousay Terrace to Rousay Drive and assumed it was parked so began crossing the road.
“As she reached the pavement, she describes feeling a bang and the next thing she remembers is lying face down on the pavement.”
A witness rushed to the woman’s aid and Mathieson also stopped.
The injured woman managed to get back to her feet and reach her home nearby to get help from her husband.
Emergency services were called and police officers found damage to Mathieson’s car.
Paramedics treated the woman and took her to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where she was found to have a fractured wrist and a deep forehead wound which required stitches.
She also suffered a chipped front tooth and bruising to her thigh and ankle.
Mathieson, of Stornoway Crescent, Aberdeen, pled guilty to a charge of causing serious injury by careless driving.
Defence agent Paul Barnett said his client had been at the Woodend shops and was pulling out of the carpark to turn left onto Rousay Drive up towards the Lang Stracht.
He said: “His position is he looked both ways but was perhaps more focused on vehicular traffic and wasn’t expecting there to be a pedestrian given there’s a zebra crossing on the right side of the junction rather than the left.
‘I’m told she’s expected to make a full recovery’
“It seems the complainer was crossing and was just about to step onto the pavement when he struck her.”
Mr Barnett said Mathieson waited at the scene and was compliant with the police.
He added: “He is devastated to hear about the injuries sustained by the complainer.”
Sheriff Philip Mann told Mathieson: “I’m prepared to accept the standard of driving was below that expected of a competent and careful driver, but not excessively below that.
“The injuries sustained by the complainer, though serious, were not life-threatening or anything of that nature.
“I’m told she’s expected to make a full recovery.”
He fined Mathieson £640 and banned him from driving for 18 months.
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