A teenage driver clocked at one of the highest speeds on an Angus road has been banned for 18 months and ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.
Apprentice Matthew Jolly had only owned his turbo-charged Renault Clio for two weeks when he was recorded at 127mph by traffic officers on laser gun patrol near Brechin.
At Forfar Sheriff Court on Thursday, 19-year-old Jolly, of Princess Crescent, Dyce, was slammed by a sheriff after claiming he had not noticed his speed creeping up while driving on the A90 dual carriageway to Dundee with friends on June 27.
Depute fiscal Jill Drummond said the offence happened shortly before 8pm and Jolly made no comment when he was shown the 127mph reading on the speed gun after police stopped him.
Defence solicitor Michael Boyd said: “He is a young man with strong family support and it is a family that do not condone this type of behaviour.”
He said the teenager, who admitted driving dangerously, was well paid and in the second year of an apprenticeship but the inevitable consequences of the offence would result in him having to get rid of the car, on which Jolly had signed a five-year finance deal.
Sheriff Gregor Murray told Jolly: “You have to make a determined effort to get a Renault Clio up to that speed.”
In response to the claim Jolly had not noticed his speed creeping up, the sheriff said: “He bought one of the fastest hot-hatches on the market and knew what he was doing.
“The speed could not have crept up to that while he was chatting with friends, and the bench has considerable difficulty with that suggestion.”
He told Jolly: “I accept, to your credit, you have a clean record and show some understanding of how stupid you have been.
“The fact remains, however, that as someone who is young, you spent a lot of money on one of the fastest small cars on the market and you were travelling at 127 miles an hour you can’t expect a lot of mercy from the court.”