Court / Dangerous driver banned and fined

OVERTAKING a police car and driving at speeds up to 100mph has landed a young driver with a year’s ban plus a £600 fine.

Lerwick Sheriff Court heard on Wednesday how 18-year-old Alfred Harry James Naismith Baird followed the unmarked police car so close on Lerwick’s Holmsgarth Road the officers could not see his headlights.

He then overtook the police car before driving out of town at high speed. The offence of dangerous driving, which was admitted by Baird, took place on a rainy night on 20April.

According to procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie the police followed Baird’s car, which was being driven at “grossly excessive speed”, when it had been raining so heavily that there was standing water on the road.

Even at 100mph on the way to the Brig o Fitch, the police did not appear to be gaining on him.

The officers eventually pulled Baird, who lives in Orkney, over at the Scord on the way to Scalloway.

Tommy Allan, defending, said that although it had been a poor night, the offence happened at 11.20pm on a stretch of road with no houses.

Sheriff Philip Mann said that it was a good thing Baird had been detected. He said his driving had been “extremely dangerous” and a “significant risk to public safety.

He ordered Baird to sit an extended driving test before he can regain his licence.