Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Electrician avoids driving ban following serious Highland crash

Electrician avoids driving ban following serious Highland crash

A 24-year-old apprentice electrician who seriously injured his best friend in a one vehicle crash was fined £1,200 but escaped a driving ban yesterday.

Matthew Wales, of 7 Harper Close, Winnington, Cheshire, had gone on trial at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday on a charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving to 22 year old Andrew Watson, a workmate and passenger in his car.

It went off the road at a left hand bend on the A95 between Aviemore and Grantown near Craggan Golf course on September 6, 2014 as the pair were going to meet friends.

Wales’s car veered on to the wrong carriageway and crashed through bushes and trees before coming to rest at the foot of a steep embankment.

It had been alleged that he was driving at excessive speed for the wet conditions.

However fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart accepted a guilty plea of the lesser charge of careless driving.

Liverpool man Mr Watson, who was working with Wales on a Dulnain Bridge hotel renovation, suffered a potentially fatal head injury as well as other serious injuries.

The court heard he had no recollection of the incident or anything after the crash and ‘lost’ 19 days of his life.

Grantown mechanic Josh Rattray, 24, told the court he received a phone call from Wales shortly after the accident to come and find him because he didn’t know where he was.

Mr Rattray and other friends flagged down a car driven by Mrs Fiona Lewis, also from Grantown, and rushed to the scene.

Mr Watson had to be cut free by firemen.

One of the rescue service personnel, Mark Macdonald, told the court that vehicles going off the road at that location was “quite a common occurrence.”

Defence agent Willie Young said his client was driving within the speed limit, did not know the road and lost control of his car when he braked suddenly at the bend.

Fining him and endorsing Wales licence with nine penalty points, Sheriff Margaret Neilson told him: “Clearly your driving had horrific consequences for your passenger and they will probably live with you for the rest of your life. This will also have more affect on you than anything I could do to you.”