Forfar Sheriff Court has heard how a Friday the 13th car chase ended with a young driver ramming his car into a town centre shop after fleeing in the wrong direction up a one-way street.
Christopher Findlay had ignored the flashing lights and sirens of police who tried to pull him over after he was spotted struggling to get into his car by a CCTV operator.
Oh Thursday, a day after celebrating his 21st birthday, he was banned from the road for 18 months and given 180 hours of community service after the incident described in court as a “blow-out.”
Findlay, of Carseburn Terrace, admitted driving dangerously in West High Street, Craig O’ Loch Road and Castle Street on August 13, repeatedly driving on the wrong side of the road, up a street the wrong way and colliding with a building.
He also admitted failing to provide a specimen of blood at Arbroath police office on the same date.
Depute fiscal Hannah Kennedy said Findlay was spotted on CCTV getting out of his Honda Civic just after 1am.
He was unsteady on his feet and had difficulty getting back into the vehicle before driving off.
Police were summoned and he passed them in West High Street as they were leaving the station.’Blow-out’Ms Kennedy said, “They put on their lights and siren and he failed to stop, instead accelerating strongly away.”
She said Findlay then negotiated a traffic island on the wrong side of the road “weaving around the road and barely in control.”
The pursuit ended in Castle Street, when the car hit a shop.
Solicitor Bob Bruce said his client acknowledged his “completely unacceptable course of conduct.”
He said Findlay has done well to rise to the position of foreman with his employer but has yet to manage the work stress he sometimes faces.
Mr Bruce said, “He experiences blow-outs and this was one.
“He had an argument and that translated itself into this conduct.”