A man who unwittingly created “a public spectacle” after he got his souped-up racing car stuck in the sand at Stonehaven harbour has appeared in court.
Andrew Dinan, 25, admitted driving his bright yellow Nissan at the beachfront on Friday evening while disqualified from driving and without insurance.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how the car was being photographed on the sand when it got stuck fast – much to the delight of onlookers.
A video showing the crowd jeering and laughing at Dinan’s unfortunate predicament has been viewed more than 120,000 times on Facebook.
Dinan, who only has permission to drive the vehicle on a racetrack, had organised for a friend to drive the vehicle to Stonehaven harbour.
Police recognised accused from video footage
Fiscal depute Darren Harty told the court: “The accused and others were socialising at Stonehaven harbour with a number of vehicles.
“A video recording shown to police shows the accused as the driver of the vehicle while the car was being towed from the slipway.
“Officers who viewed the footage recognised the driver of the vehicle as the accused and checks confirmed that he was disqualified from driving and as such has no insurance.
“He was cautioned, charged and taken into custody.”
Defence solicitor Stuart Flowerdew described Dinan’s vehicle as a “pretty unusual looking car” and stated that it was only designed for use on a racetrack.
Mr Flowerdew said Dinan had been approached by a group of photographers who were taking pictures of some Japanese vehicles.
‘No surprise that it got stuck’
Mr Flowerdew added: “It was driven down the slipway and then the photographer felt it would be better if it continued onto the sand, where it was no surprise really that it got stuck.
“By this point, the driver of the vehicle had moved from the driver’s seat to discuss what should be done. It is, by this time, becoming quite a public spectacle.
“The person who had driven the car onto the sand was concerned that there may be damage done to the vehicle due to the number of modifications – and concluded that if anyone was to drive the car it should be the person who owned the vehicle.
“It was quite an unusual situation, but it was felt he could take it from the sand and be safely driven away.”
Describing the circumstances as “unusual”, Sheriff Philip Mann told Dinan, of Cairngrassie Drive, Portlethen, he was obliged to impose six penalty points on his licence and fined him £420.
