An 86-year-old man had a miraculous escape when an out-of-control car smashed into his house and ploughed through his living room wall.
By good fortune, pensioner Geoff Mayne had gone to bed early and was asleep upstairs when teenage driver Emil Pencierzynski careered into the front of his semi-detached property in Crieff’s Hebridean Gardens.
Perth Sheriff Court heard Mr Mayne was woken by an “extremely loud bang” just before 10pm on October 19 last year.
He went downstairs and saw the headlamps of a white Volkswagen Jetta Sport in his front room.
The court was told the wall was “smashed completely” and kitchen cupboards and a gas hob were pushed into the downstairs bathroom.
Mr Mayne was trapped in his house until he was rescued by firefighters about three hours later.
Driving through a downpour
Pencierzynski, 19, denied driving dangerously moments before the collision.
It was alleged he had driven at excessive speed for the conditions on nearby Pittenzie Road and failed to adjust his driving to the rainy weather conditions.
At the time, there was red weather warning in place as the Tayside area was hammered by Storm Babet.
His car went out of control and mounted a pavement, before travelling through a hedge and into Mr Mayne’s front door and embedding in the fabric of the house causing extensive damage.
After evidence from two witnesses, prosecutors accepted his guilty plea to a reduced charge of careless driving.
Having viewed photos of the location, Sheriff Alison McKay said she understood a turn in the road may have taken Pencierzynski by surprise.
“The difficulty is that you were driving carelessly by going too fast in a built-up area when there was torrential rain and it was dark,” she told him.
“That is all the more reason for you to have proceeded more cautiously.”
She added: “I am absolutely satisfied that your carelessness was at the higher end of the scale.”
Farm worker Pencierzynski, of Hillhead, Muthil, was fined £500 and handed five penalty points.
Sheriff McKay explained sentencing was based on the level of his careless driving, rather than the consequences.
‘An almighty crash’
A joint minute of facts agreed by the crown and Pencierzynski’s lawyer showed Mr Mayne, who lived alone, has since moved out of the house.
An electric bicycle, which he used every day, was damaged in the smash.
Neighbour Alexander Murray told the trial he looked out of his window and saw a white car “travelling at speed.”
Asked by fiscal depute Stephanie Paterson if he could tell what speed the car was travelling at, he replied: “Put it this way, I certainly wouldn’t be approaching that junction at the speed that car was doing.”
The retired fish farm manager said: “The next minute, there was this almighty crash.”
He told the court: “The vehicle had gone through a hedge and the front of it was sitting inside the living room.
“I didn’t go inside the house but I could see the damage was pretty substantial.
“There was brickwork and things lying on the ground so the house had obviously suffered structurally.”
Mr Murray said he was “obviously quite concerned” for Mr Mayne.
“Fortunately, he had gone to his bed early that night, so he was already upstairs.”
Pedestrian Jordan Matthew, 26, said he had been walking through the rain when he heard a car “speeding or speeding up” nearby.
“It was like screeching,” he said.
“It was dark and I just saw sparks going across the road.
“It then struck the bush and went into the house.”
Asked what kind of force the car struck the property, Mr Matthew said: “Very, very hard.”
‘Dreadful fright’ for all
Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said his client had originally offered a plea to a careless driving charge before the trial but it was then rejected by prosecutors.
“Mr Pencierzynski had been taking a friend home that evening and he had never driven on this road before,” he said.
“His passenger was on the phone and only realised too late that the accused didn’t know where he was going.
“Mr Pencierzynski had no intention of doing anything other than driving his friend home that night.
“He very much regrets what happened.”
Sheriff McKay said: “Mr Mayne must have had a dreadful fright but so would Mr Pencierzynski and his passenger, as well as the pedestrian walking down the road, minding his own business.”
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