A council official has been fined £300 after being found guilty of driving carelessly while on a tour of the far north.
Tom Cringles and his wife Mary had just visited John O’ Groats in their motorhome when one of their wing mirrors clipped a mirror on a van driven by an electrical engineer James Steven
He claimed that the accident was caused by the Cringles’ motorhome veering about a foot over the white line after it rounded a bend at Dunnet village, on July 2, Wick Sheriff Court heard.
Mr Steven said his window was open and shards of glass sprayed the dashboard of his Volkswagen Transporter van and himself and his 18-month old son Lewis.
He told the court that as soon as he saw that the motorhome was about a foot over the white line, he pulled in as close as he could to his own side of the A836.
Cringles, 57, denied careless driving. He said the had observed the Stevens’ van approaching and had slowed down and was “well in” on his own side of the road.
The recreation manager for South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture Department insisted: “At no point did I encroach on the wrong side of the road.”
Sheriff Andrew Berry said it was a question of balancing two different versions of the accident but added that he accepted Mr Steven’s account.
In addition to the fine, Cringles, of Cochrane Street, Bellshill, Lanarkshire, incurred three penalty points.
