A disqualified driver who wheelspun out of a church car park past an approaching police officer has admitted careless driving.
A court heard the officer had to take “evasive action” as Samantha Stewart’s Ford Fiesta came by.
Stewart also pled guilty to driving whilst disqualified and with no insurance.
The 35-year-old appeared via videolink from custody at Inverness Sheriff Court to make her pleas in front of Sheriff David Harvie.
Fiscal depute David Morton told the court that police had received a tip-off about a car coming and going from the car park of a church on St Mary’s Avenue in Inverness.
He said: “Police officers were dispatched to investigate and were flagged down by the informant who advised that the vehicle was in the rear car park.”
The officers spotted the car parked on a grassy area, with Stewart at the wheel and two male passengers.
Disqualified driver’s car park wheelspin
“As they approached the vehicle she did cause the vehicle to wheel spin on the grassy area and drove between where police had parked their vehicle and where the officer was standing,” Mr Morton said, adding that the officer had needed to “take a step back to allow the vehicle to pass.”
Stewart was later traced and checks revealed her to be disqualified from driving.
Solicitor John MacColl, for Stewart, said: “She accepts she was in a vehicle and she should not have been and she drove in the manner narrated.”
He said Stewart had a “profound problem with drugs” and was currently in custody in relation to another matter, adding: “She has spent the time that she has had in custody so far usefully and her position is that she hopes to continue that.”
Sheriff Harvie deferred sentencing Stewart, of Galloway Drive, Inverness, for reports to be prepared. The case will call again next month.
