A banned driver was found at night behind the wheel of a car, without lights and idling at a junction.
Hamish Soutar, 22, was pulled over by police at 3.30am in July last year after they spotted him at traffic lights without his headlamps on.
Soutar had driven from a property in Forfar to Kingsway East but had been disqualified from driving and was “shocked” he faced being sent to prison for his crimes.
Soutar, of St Combes Close, Kirriemuir, admitted driving while disqualified and without insurance at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Sheriff John Rafferty, reading a previously-ordered social work report, took a dim view of Soutar’s surprise at the prospect of prison.
He said: “It seems strange to me he would be shocked that he would be facing a custodial sentence.
“He doesn’t appreciate the gravity of what is in front of him.
“Having said that, I am persuaded he could be suitable for a community payback order.”
Soutar was placed on 18 months supervision and given 133 hours unpaid work as a direct alternative to custody.
Tattooist attack
Dundee beautician Jodie Hannan dragged her tattooist boyfriend across a car park by his hair after her partner decided to leave her alone during a hotel getaway while he went to see a client. Hannan, 33, carried out the attack in retaliation after he destroyed her passport and bank card.
No case to answer in drink-drive hearing
A driver rescued from her car in a Perthshire ditch, who later returned an alcohol breath reading more than three times over the limit, has been cleared of any criminality.
Police, paramedics and fire crew all rushed to the West Dron area, south of Bridge of Earn, on April 2 2020.
At around 11pm, they found Rhona Boyd trapped inside as the driver’s door had become blocked.
Boyd, 58, from Bridge of Earn, crashed from a rural, single track farm road, with fields on both sides.
She was taken to A&E, where she was asked by police to provide a breath sample, which she failed to complete.
At police headquarters in Dundee, her reading at 2.15am was 76mics – the legal limit is 22.
At Perth Sheriff Court, she was acquitted of both drink-driving and failing to provide a breath specimen.
Her solicitor David Holmes provided a letter from Perth and Kinross Council which confirmed the stretch of road from which his client had crashed was private land.
The offence of drink-driving can only be committed on a road or public place.
Mr Holmes made a submission to the court of no case to answer, which was upheld by Sheriff Francis Gill.
Bell ringer bail breach
A Dundee teenager who claimed he was lost as he rang random doorbells after his 7pm curfew was jailed for the festive season. Lukeus Walker, 18, breached his strict bail rules when he was pressing buzzers on Candle Lane as he attempted to find his grandmother’s house.
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