A former parcel courier has been banned from driving after causing a head-on collision which injured four people in the car he struck in Angus.
Iain MacGregor swerved into a Citroen C3 on an unclassified road between the hamlets of Pearsie and Cortachy in the early afternoon of July 23 last year.
The oncoming family, which had stopped on the verge, were all injured.
MacGregor, 56, stood trial at Forfar Sheriff Court and denied his driving was dangerous but was found guilty and disqualified from driving.
Swerved ‘at last second’
The other driver, a 33-year-old, explained he had been driving home with a carful of shopping and stopped on the verge when he saw MacGregor’s car approaching the slight bend.
He said only 30% of his C3 was still on the road.
“At the last second he swerved right, directly at us instead of going past us.
“I could see the look of shock on his face.
“All the airbags went off. We just got out as quick as possible.”
He said his four-year-old daughter hit her head on the back of the drivers’ side headrest.
“She’d burst her nose. (She) was like she was going to pass out, she said she was tired and wanted to go to sleep.”
‘Like time stood still’
The man’s 36-year-old wife explained they had pulled so far onto the verge, she cut her back on the bordering barbed wire fence as she got out after the crash.
She said: “It was like time stood still for us.
“He didn’t appear to make any attempt to slow down whatsoever and just pulled into us.
“It’s not a completely blind corner, it’s just a slight bend.
“It was horrific. It is quite a nerve-wracking road and it does need driven with caution.
“This has hung over me like a dark cloud.”
Denied it was head-on collision
Ford Focus driver MacGregor, formerly of Gowanbank, near Forfar, but now living in Edinburgh, explained he was a self-employed courier at the time and knew the road well.
Giving evidence, he told solicitor Michael Boyd he had been travelling at 20mph and denied the C3 had fully halted.
He said: “I tried to stop in time but I wasn’t able to do so.
“There was a very large gorse bush on the left side so I wasn’t able to hug the verge.”
In cross-examination, he told prosecutor Lora Apostalova the crash was not head-on but rather an “offset frontal collision” where half of each car’s bonnet made contact.
Guilty
Sheriff Derek Reekie convicted MacGregor – who has one speeding conviction from a decade ago – of driving dangerously.
He failed to keep a proper lookout, drove at excessive speed and conditions and suddenly swerved right and collided with the C3, injuring its occupants.
The sheriff said: “I don’t accept your evidence.
“If your evidence is correct, it seems this accident would have been avoided.
“I found you to be evasive and complicated about some of your answers in an effort to minimise your responsibility.
“This car hasn’t appeared out of nowhere.”
The sheriff banned him from driving for a year and until he passes the extended test and fined him a total of £1,040.
Defending, Mr Boyd said: “His (85-year-old) mother lives in Tannadice. The loss of his licence will cause him problems.”
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