The case of an electrician who drove a white van straight over two major roundabouts almost a mile apart while following his satnav was described as “perplexing” by a sheriff yesterday.
Michael Kelbie caused thousands of pounds worth of damage as he allegedly struggled with the app on his mobile phone.
Stirling Sheriff Court heard the incidents occurred after he borrowed the van, having spun his own car into a lamp-post just an hour-and-a-half earlier.
Prosecutor Ashley Smith said that at 2.30am on September 30, other drivers saw a white Citroen Relay van – which it turned out was being driven by Kelbie – going west on the A907 from the direction of Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, towards Stirling.
As they watched, it drove straight over the large Dumyat roundabout outside Tullibody, taking a road sign with it.
A mile further, at Blackgrange roundabout – near bonded whisky warehouses – they saw it do the same thing.
Police were called and carried out a search before making their way to the street where the vehicle was registered, in St Ninians, Stirling.
Miss Smith said police found Kelbie there and told him they believed he had been drinking, which he denied.
She said: “He did, however, fail a breathalyser.
“At 3.50am he gave a breath sample that contained 34 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres – just over one-and-a-half times the limit in Scotland – but at a level that would have still been legal in England, where the limit is higher.”
Miss Smith said that in the earlier incident, in Park Terrace, Stirling, just before 1am, a man walking “heard the sound of a vehicle crashing”.
She added: “He looked and saw a Vauxhall Astra lying at rest against a lamp-post and two males running off. One was Kelbie.”
Damage to the lamp-post was put at £320, while the cost of repairing the roundabouts totalled £2,600 – £1,500 at Dumyat and £1,100 at Blackgrange.
The court heard that Clackmannanshire Council, which owns the roundabouts, had already sent a bill to the accused.
Kelbie, 34, a father of one, of Northwood Road, Tullibody, pled guilty to dangerous driving, careless driving, failing to stop after accidents, failing to report an accident and drink-driving.
Sheriff William Gilchrist said: “I’m simply surprised at the reading – it’s above the prescribed limit so it’s an offence, but it’s relatively low.
“It doesn’t really explain why he was driving across roundabouts.”
Defence solicitor Frazer McCready said: “He provides an explanation that he was ‘distracted’ as a result of him trying to access some sort of satnav app on his mobile telephone.”
Sheriff Gilchrist said: “That might explain one roundabout, but how does it explain the other?”
Mr McCready replied: “It is bizarre and I accept that. He had arranged to meet up with friends in the Stirling area where they were going to a music event. He drove his own car to Stirling and had some sort of skid.
“He believes there was something on the road but accepts, perhaps, he was driving too quickly.
“He then met his friends, consumed alcohol, went back to a friend’s house, got a taxi home, and decided after some food to take a friend’s van and try and meet up with some friends in Bannockburn.
“He wasn’t entirely sure where he was going and he was not properly concentrating, and he struck the road signs on the roundabouts.”
Sheriff Gilchrist banned Kelbie from driving for 16 months, fined him £360 and ordered him to carry out 130 hours of unpaid work.
He told him: “There are aspects of this that I find very odd.”
The court heard the cost of the damage would be recovered by civil procedure.
