A Banff man caught driving his granny’s car dangerously has been banned from the roads for a year and told he will need to pass his test again.
Calvin Ross appeared at Banff Sheriff Court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to pulling off an unsafe overtake at speed.
The 21-year-old tried to overtake three vehicles on the evening of May 18 last year, forcing both an off-duty police constable to slow down in an attempt to let him back into the correct lane and a van driver to brake to avoid a collision.
Fiscal depute Anne Mann told the court that the car Ross was driving on the A947 King Edward to Turriff road on the night of the incident, a white Renault Clio, was owned by and registered to his grandmother.
She added the off-duty constable, who was also driving the same route at the time, saw Ross “approaching at speed” and overtaking on solid white lines.
When the constable attempted to allow Ross back into the correct lane, he chose to stay on the wrong side “despite the solid white line system”.
Ms Mann said: “[He] continued in the opposing carriageway overtaking other vehicles. He drew level with another vehicle, a white van which was ahead of the witness, as an approaching vehicle in the opposing carriageway was driving towards the accused.
“The driver of the van braked in order to avoid a head-on collision between the accused’s vehicle and the oncoming vehicle, at which point the accused’s vehicle entered back onto the correct side of the road and was thereafter lost to view.”
When constables eventually caught up to Ross he made no reply.
‘A stupid decision’ that could have had serious consequences
Defence agent Stuart Beveridge described his client as “fairly inexperienced” in his mitigation.
“Essentially what happens is Mr Ross goes to pull out and overtake the three vehicles, unfortunately he leaves it too late,” he said.
“He didn’t realise the police officer is slowing down and there was in fact a gap, he was concentrating on basically staying on the road.
“Essentially, this was a momentary decision, my lord, where he basically panicked and made the wrong decision and continued the manoeuvre rather than slowing down and pulling back, which is probably what a more experienced driver would have done.
“A young man, no previous convictions, clean driving licence, my lord, so it’s not some boy racer that regularly comes before the court. It appears to be, simply, a stupid decision made, which he compounded by continuing.
“He appreciates he’s been very fortunate. The irony here is he was in no particular hurry because he actually lives fairly close to the locus.
“He accepts there really was no need for this manoeuvre.”
Error of judgment
Mr Beveridge added Ross, of Moss Side Croft, would find it difficult to find work without the use of a car.
In addition to banning Ross from the roads, Sheriff Eric Brown fined him a total of £300 and said it was fortunate there was no collision.
“I accept it was an error of judgment on your part, but it’s often these errors of judgment can have serious consequences,” the sheriff added.
As a result of the ban for dangerous driving, Ross will now also need to sit an extended driving test should he wish to get back behind the wheel.