A young female driver with only a provisional licence wrote off her BMW in a dramatic smash during a solo mercy dash to her grandparents, a court has heard.
Alison Saunders came to grief after losing control following a high-speed overtaking manoeuvre, rolling the powerful machine down an embankment before miraculously escaping virtually unscathed.
At Forfar Sheriff Court on Thursday, the 22-year-old student was told that a ban was inevitable after admitting a careless driving charge at the “upper end of the scale.”
Saunders, of Brodies Yard, Coupar Angus appeared before Sheriff Kevin Veal to admit driving carelessly and at excessive speed on the B954 Birkhill to Newtyle road on May 10, overtaking a number of cars before losing control and leaving the road.
She also pleaded guilty to driving unsupervised while only the holder of a provisional licence. The court was told the incident happened around 1.30pm on a stretch of single-carriageway road with a 60mph limit.
Witnesses spoke of Saunders overtaking at what they believed to be excessive speed since they were on or near the limit, but as she pulled back into her side of the road she lost control and began ‘fish-tailing’.
The BMW 316 then went down an embankment, rolling two or three times.
The witnesses from the cars the accused overtook rushed to her aid and although Saunders was okay she appeared in shock, but anxious to get away from the scene of the crash.
Defence agent Brian Bell said his client, who is studying business and finance at Dundee College, had received a phone call with some worrying family news and was making her way there, which was the reason for her desire to leave the scene of the accident.
Saunders, who suffers from advanced arthritis and entered the dock with the aid of a walking stick, has held a provisional licence for a number of years, he said. The car was scrapped as a result of the incident.
Fining Saunders £250 and imposing a nine-month driving ban, Sheriff Veal said: “There are elements of safety to the wider public which must be considered and the fact that she is a driver who has not passed her test leads me to the inescapable view that she has to be disqualified.”