A boozed-up traveller thrown off a bus stole a mobility scooter before being pulled over by police as he weaved around an Angus road in a comedy scene “like something out of Little Britain”.
Forfar sheriff court heard Andrew McConnachie tried out outrun officers on a five miles per hour journey back to Aberdeen which would have taken him hours to complete after he had been dumped for being sick on the coach at Inverkeilor, near Arbroath.
The 47-year-old will return to court next month for sentence, but in the meantime has been banned from the road after admitting piloting the stolen machine while twice the drink drive limit on Monday night.
McConnachie appeared from custody at Forfar on Tuesday after an incident which depute fiscal John Adams said began when the accused was thrown off the bus around 9.30pm.
“Shortly after ejecting the accused from his bus, the driver was coming back in the same direction when he saw the accused driving a mobility scooter which the accused did not have with him on the bus,” said Mr Adams.
“The bus driver was concerned because he was all over the road.”
Police were called and they stopped McConnachie, who initially said the scooter was his, but that lie was quickly exposed when passers-by identified the scooter as belonging to a local man and its ownership was checked out.
The fiscal added: “When the two passers-by intervened, the accused then explained that he saw the scooter and assumed it was for hire.”
Defence solicitor Nick Markowski said the scene of McConnachie being pursued by a police vehicle with its blue lights flashing, while weaving around the road at just a few miles per hour would have been like a sketch from cult comedy show Little Britain.
“He is on a range of medications and medical advice not to drink was not advice that he followed yesterday,” said Mr Markowski.
“The scooter was just beside the bus stop, he got on it and luckily for him he didn’t go onto the main A92, which would have been extremely dangerous.
“He has asked me to apologise to the owner of the scooter and is thankful the man got it back without any disruption.”
McConnachie, of Summer Street, Aberdeen admitted stealing the scooter from Main Road, Inverkeilor and driving with excess alcohol, 44 microgrammes against a legal limit of 22. He will be sentenced on January 28 following the preparation of a criminal justice report.