A drink-driving lorry driver caught more than six times over the legal limit after workers at Leven’s Diageo site raised the alarm has been fined and banned.
Kevin Fraser, 41, of Murray Road, Chester-le-Street, County Durham, admitted driving an HGV with excess alcohol (139mics/22) in Banbeath Road on June 12.
Branded a “menace on the road”, it was previously noted it was the fifth time Fraser had committed such an offence and he was warned he could have been jailed.
At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court he was ordered to carry out 300 hours unpaid work and given a 12-month supervision order with the condition he seek alcohol treatment.
He was banned for four years and will have to sit an extended driving test if he wants his licence back.
The court had heard how Fraser was driving the lorry into the Diageo compound in Leven for a drop-off at around 12:30pm on June 12 and employees noted his slurred speech, alcohol-smelling breath and that he was swaying, so called police.
He has since lost his job.
Pair to stand trial over fatal crash
A pair of drivers from Dundee appeared at the High Court accused of racing each other before a fatal accident in Perthshire in January 2021.
Lee Tucker, 33, and Joseph Donachie, 28, are accused of causing the death by dangerous driving of Reece Tucker, 23, and injuring two young children in the crash on the A93 near Spittal of Glenshee.
They will stand trial next year.
Asda scuffle
A woman ended up in a “scuffle” with her partner’s ex-girlfriend in a Dunfermline Asda.
Lynsay McCarthy, 35, of Lapwing Drive, appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court to plead guilty to breach of the peace at the city’s St Leonards store on March 2 this year.
She admitted conducting herself in a disorderly manner and engaging in a stand-up fight that caused, or likely caused a disturbance or fear and alarm to others.
Procurator fiscal depute Michael Robertson told the court it was about 4pm when the two women saw each other in the store and McCarthy was heard to say: “I just want to talk to you, you are not so hard now”.
The fiscal said the woman tried to get away from McCarthy, who blocked her, before a “scuffle ensued”.
A security guard was called to intervene and McCarthy left in her vehicle but was stopped by police.
Defence lawyer Alexander Flett said both women are former partners of the same man and there had been “difficulties”, with the victim and her associates causing a “certain amount of friction”.
Sheriff Garry Sutherland deferred sentence for three months for McCarthy to be of good behaviour.
Cannabis-growing killer
A convicted Dundee killer has admitted growing dozens of cannabis plants in a bid to fund his way out of the city. The court heard Stephen Robbins, who killed Dundee DJ Ryan Barrie when he hit him with a wheelie bin, hoped to sell the drugs for £5000 to pay for the move to England.
Not a dafty
A sheriff has hailed the “remarkable turnabout” of a 31-year-old man who once burst into a couple’s bedroom armed with a baseball bat and warned them: “I’m not one of these dafties from Perth, I’m fae Fife.”
Paul Crossland was jailed for 20 months last year for the attempted robbery in Perth’s Newhouse Road.
The court heard it was a “carbon copy” of a similar raid he carried out in Burntisland seven years earlier.
Crossland, who now lives in Perth, returned to the dock in connection with offences committed while in prison.
He admitted assaulting fellow inmate Andrew Murray at the city jail on March 5 last year when he punched his victim from behind in B-hall and knocked him to the ground.
Crossland spent 14 days in solitary confinement.
He further admitting using an unauthorised SIM card to keep in touch with family on June 14 last year.
Solicitor Linda Clark said her client was released in October and is now apprenticed to a firm of civil engineers.
“It has been a remarkable turnaround for Mr Crossland,” she said.
Sheriff David Hall told him: “The progress you have made is nothing short of remarkable.
“You have done extremely well and things are looking up for you.”
The sheriff added: “It would be extremely unfortunate if you offended again and undid all of this good work.”
Sentence was deferred for six months for Crossland, of Firbank Road, to prove he can stay out of trouble.
Disgraced banker
Disgraced bank manager Sam Ronald, 27, from Bridge of Earn, who looked “proud” after a sex attack at a Perth nightclub, has been ordered to pay his victim £900 compensation. He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for six months.
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