A driver who seriously injured two people after turning into the path of a car driven by the boss of security firm G4S on the A9, has been jailed.
Brian Raitt was attempting to use a “cut through” near Perth to return in the direction he had come from, to collect his wife’s phone.
The pensioner failed to check properly before pulling out of a layby, causing the “catastrophic” collision quarter of a mile south of Broxden Roundabout.
Advocate Euan Dow, defending, said the 70-year-old had suffered a lapse of concentration that spanned just seconds.
He said: “The accused has repeatedly expressed remorse, not only to the witnesses in the case but also to the author of the report.
“This expression is genuine and heart-felt.
“This is a man who struggles to come to terms with the fact he has caused serious injury to two people.”
Jailed despite pleas from lawyer
Mr Dow said the former off-shore worker was also considered a respected and responsible family man who had an unblemished driving record spanning more than 50 years.
He urged Sheriff Charles Macnair to impose a non-custodial sentence, stating the pensioner was due to have a landline installed at his property to allow the court the option of placing him on an electronic tag.
However, Sheriff Macnair said he did not consider there was any alternative to a custodial sentence.
He told Raitt: “You were found guilty by the jury of dangerous driving, not negligent driving or careless driving.
“This was on the A9 and it is notorious that unfortunately the A9 is the scene of accidents, although most are north of Perth, rather than that part of the A9.
“You were in a layby and you wanted to go back to collect your wife’s phone.
“There was a roundabout a short distance ahead of you and you could have used that.
“Instead you decided to turn from the carriageway to the other carriageway using the cut out.
“Driving across the A9 in such circumstances is clearly always going to be a high-risk manoeuvre, but you decided to do that.”
He noted a vehicle travelling at 70mph would have been visible for nine seconds prior to the crash site.
“If you had looked it must have been a significant time prior to you coming from the layby onto the carriageway of the A9 because the driver of the other car had no chance at all of doing anything about it and drove into the side of your vehicle.”
Court heard of driver’s terror after crash
Chris Burr, managing director for G4S Events UK, had previously told the court how he had been forced to leave his wife Amanda in the wreckage of the car, while he carried two young children to safety.
They had been travelling from Glasgow to Dundee to visit friends.
Mr Burr, who was travelling at about 70mph, said: “I said to my wife: ‘We’re going to…’
“But before I could say ‘crash,’ we hit the vehicle.”
“We hit the side of vehicle front on, and our car started spinning around and around.
“I remember the noise and the feel of the car spinning.
“I came round and I could see that the car had stopped and we were facing the wrong way.
“And then my wife screamed that the car was on fire.”
Serious injuries
The collision left Mrs Burr seriously injured, including with a fracture to her spine and also resulted in a five-year-old boy being badly hurt.
Mr Burr said: “My wife thought she was going to die.
“A man came up to me and said it wasn’t looking good and I should go over and sit with her.”
She was in the High Dependency Unit at Ninewells for a week, before being transferred to hospital in Glasgow.
Raitt, of Grand Eagles Caravan Site, Dunning Road, Auchterarder, was found guilty by a jury of causing the crash, by driving his van dangerously and pulling out into the path of Mr Burr’s car on July 20, 2018.
Sheriff Macnair jailed him for 15 months.
He also banned him from the roads for four years and seven and a half months, as well as ordering him to sit the extended driving test before getting his licence back.
