A motorist has been handed a lengthy ban and an £8,225 fine after he and his passenger almost died in a drink and cocaine-fuelled car crash.
Jay Milne, 23, was already disqualified from driving when he got behind the wheel of the Mercedes 350 after a night of partying in Aviemore.
The car’s owner, Timothy Kumar, had only just met Milne but handed him the keys to his high-performance vehicle and they took off along the A95.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told Milne lost control of the car on the road near Kinveachy and it veered off a verge, broke through a fence and rolled downward before colliding with a tree and coming to a rest on its roof.
Milne was placed in a medically-induced coma while Kumar had life-threatening injuries, including a broken spine.
Bleed to the brain
The court was told at a previous hearing that police were on their way to another collision at 3.10am on May 14 2023 when they came across the crashed Mercedes.
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair told Sheriff Gary Aitken: “The accused was found in the driver’s seat by police and was able to respond to them.
“Witness Timothy Kumar was in the passenger seat and appeared unresponsive.
“The Scottish Ambulance Service was contacted and the accused was extracted from the vehicle.
“Timothy Kumar was initially presumed to have life-threatening injuries to his chest and abdomen and so the on-call Forensic Collision Investigators were asked to attend the locus.”
At the scene when asked if he was the driver, Milne told police: “Me. No licence, no insurance, I’m f*****”.
Milne was arrested and taken to Raigmore Hospital, along with Mr Kumar.
Ms Gair continued: “Milne was assessed and a frontal bleed to his brain was detected.
“He was immediately placed in a medically induced coma and transferred by road ambulance to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where it was confirmed he had sustained a fracture to his skull behind the right eye, resulting in a small bleed.
“Mr Kumar was also transferred to ARI and found to have sustained multiple fractures to his ribs, spine and chest and a collapsed left lung.”
Driver has turned his life around
When police interviewed Mr Kumar about the incident, he told them: “I think it was someone whose name started with a J. I offered someone my keys and let them drive.”
He refused to provide a statement to police about the incident.
Milne had 89mcgs of a cocaine metabolite in his system – the limit is 50mgs – and 94mcgs of alcohol, when the maximum is 22mcgs.
Milne, of Chapel Road, Grantown on Spey, admitted driving while disqualified, under the influence of drink and drugs, having no insurance and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Defence solicitor Willie Young told the court that his client had turned his life around since the crash, had given up alcohol and drugs and had got himself a good well-paid job.
‘This could easily have been a double fatal’
But despite warning Milne that a jail sentence was a distinct possibility, Sheriff Gary Aitken declined to send him to jail
Sheriff Aitken told him: “I hope you realise just how irresponsible, immature, selfish and stupid you were on the night.
“This could easily have been a double fatal. The only saving grace is the penny seems to have dropped and you have got your life under control.
“Hopefully you are on your way to becoming a useful member of society.
“You are earning a good wage and there is no reason why you should not take a big chunk of it to remind you of this over a long period. I trust we will never see you back here again.”
He fined him £8,225 – which must be paid at £750 a month. Milne was also banned from driving for six years and must sit the extended driving test of competency before he can drive again.