A wheelchair basketball coach was chased by police in Angus as he sped home from watching his team play.
Neil Duncan was pursued along the A90 by an unmarked car that tried to close the distance until five miles after it activated its sirens.
The 42-year-old appeared for trial at Forfar Sheriff Court, facing a charge of dangerous driving at excessive speed on February 1.
He “just” escaped with his driving licence intact after admitting to a lesser charge of careless driving.
Duncan was picked up driving north near Padanaram by a patrol car, driven by PC Andrew Howard with Special Constable Gary Mitchell as passenger.
The officer was asked to give an account of the night in question by depute fiscal Jill Drummond.
He said he was on duty and was attached to a uniformed mobile patrol at 10pm. It had been a rainy day and the road was wet.
The pair took an unmarked car, a blue Ford Focus.
He said: “I entered the A90 at Padanaram around (10.50pm) when a vehicle was passing it came to my attention because of its speed. It was an Audi A5, white. I didn’t get the registration due to its speed.
“I increased my speed to gain. I put on my blue lights and pursued the vehicle north on the A90, and the siren was active as well.
“I was finding it difficult to keep up until Finavon, and could see brake lights at the speed camera there that’s when my colleague got the registration.”
Duncan later noticed the police car at a speed camera by Nether Careston, and pulled in to a layby. He said he did not know what speed he was doing and the pursuing car was not fitted with relevant technology.
Defending Duncan, solicitor Peter Keene asked whether other police vehicles had stopped at the roadside after Duncan was cautioned, and he put it to PC Howard he did not charge the driver with dangerous driving until after “a conference” with traffic officers.
PC Howard said another vehicle had stopped but the decision to charge was his alone.
“In my eyes, his standard of driving fell well below what you would expect on a road that wet, and in those conditions,” he added.
Duncan’s solicitor later said his client would plead guilty to a reduced charge under road traffic legislation. He added his client was paralysed from the waist down five years previously.
He said: “Although this started as dangerous driving it’s more appropriate to be seen as careless driving and not even then of the worst sort.
“He coaches wheelchair basketball and had been at a meeting in Stirling, where he had been watching his team play.”
Duncan, from Kintore, near Inverurie, had eight points added to his licence for a total of 11 live points.
Fining him £750, Sheriff Gregor Murray said he felt forced to attach “some weight” to his disability.
“By any stretch this is at the upper end of the careless driving scale,” he said.
“I’m persuaded just not to disqualify you.”