A senior figure at a leading Tayside care provider was caught rocketing down the A90 at 125mph.
Lee Sexton, IT manager for the Perth-based Balhousie Care Group, was snapped by a speed camera near St Madoes.
His £50,000 job is now “in jeopardy” after a sheriff said she had no option but to disqualify him.
Sexton, 50, had offered to pay a “considerable” fine in an attempt to keep his licence.
Plea to keep licence
Perth Sheriff Court heard Sexton was speeding in a high performance silver Mercedes Benz at 8.39pm on May 30 2024.
He was clocked by a safety camera in a layby, east of the St Madoes turn-off.
Sexton appeared in the dock and pled guilty to a single charge of speeding.
Solicitor Gary Foulis, defending, said this was “poor decision making” and a “lapse in concentration” on his client’s part.
He handed Sheriff Alison McKay a letter from Balhousie bosses and told her: “I think it’s important this man keeps his job. I think it would be in jeopardy.”
The court heard Sexton has a clean licence, but also a “significant” near 20-year history of offending – including traffic offences – that began in the early 1990s.
He has not come to the attention of authorities since, Mr Foulis said.
“On this occasion, he had a very high powered Mercedes,” he said. “He has since got rid of the car and got himself a much smaller vehicle.
“He made a loss of £7,000 as a result.”
The solicitor said: “We have a man who shows that rehabilitation does work.
“He is in a much different position than in 1991, when he started offending – and that offending went on for 17 years.
“And now, in that same period of time, he has not come to the attention of the authorities.
“He has not had as much as a parking ticket.”
Mr Foulis added: “He is very anxious to keep his licence, given the employment he has.”
He urged the court to impose penalty points and a “considerable financial penalty”.
‘Inherent danger’
Sheriff Alison McKay told Sexton: “I am treating this as an isolated incident.
“Your previous convictions are from some time ago and they are not hugely relevant to today’s proceedings.”
She added: “I do have some sympathy for the position you find yourself, regarding your employment.
“The difficulty is that the speed you were driving was completely unacceptable.
“A ‘lapse in concentration’ might take you up to 90mph, or a bigger lapse maybe 100mph.
“But 125mph is about as close to twice the national speed limit as you would ever see, and I take the view that there would have been an inherent danger.
“I am fully aware of the impact this will have on you, but I have no option but to disqualify you from driving.”
Sexton, of Main Street, Invergowrie, was banned for six months and fined £1,000.
Although the exact impact on his career was not detailed in open court, Mr Foulis said: “His income is likely to drop.”
A spokeswoman for Balhousie Care – since rebranded as BCG – said: “For obvious confidentiality reasons we cannot nor would not disclose details about our employees’ personal lives, nor would we engage in public discussion.
”We take our duty of care to our staff very seriously.”
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