A drugged-up minibus driver left a trail of destruction in his wake after he struck no less than six vehicles on a one-mile hair-raising journey through Aberdeen.
Douglas Johnston was over the drug drive limit thanks to an apparent accidental cocktail of prescription drugs, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
The father-of-one hit six cars, mounted the pavement once and caused a service bus to take evasive action as he tore through Aberdeen in his silver Ford Transit minibus with a female passenger.
Johnston, 59, failed to stop after each collision and was clocked by multiple witnesses en route who heard bangs, screeching tyres and frantic revving.
He even continued driving despite his near-side wheel being bent underneath the bus.
Witnesses heard loud bangs
The court heard how Johnston was first seen to mount the pavement on Clerk Maxwell Crescent in the Kincorth area of the city at around 9.10am on July 22 last year.
As he headed north along the crescent he collided with a Nissan Quashqai and failed to stop.
One woman saw him out of her window “travelling at speed” along the same street before proceeding to crash into the rear of a parked car.
Another man further along the road watched in horror as Johnston’s bus collided into the rear of his car and again failed to stop before “driving off at speed with harsh acceleration”.
As he continued north, a couple on Gardner Crescent hear another loud bang from outside their house and looked out to see the bus colliding with two more vehicles.
These were left “substantially damaged”.
Wheel ‘folded beneath’ minibus
Another neighbour witnessed another collision on Gardner Crescent and also saw the minibus’ near-side front wheel was “folded underneath the vehicle”.
Yet still, Johnston drove on, this time on the wrong side of the road as he neared Cairngorm Drive and almost collided with a service bus carrying five passengers.
Fiscal depute David Rodger said: “The bus was going along Gardner Drive and was met by the minibus which was on the wrong side of the road driving directly towards it.
“The driver noticed the wheel was folded underneath it before he had to mount the pavement in order to avoid a collision.”
Johnston’s drugged-up ride came to an end when he parked up on Cairngorm Drive, where another witness heard “tyres screeching” as he came to a halt.
‘Swaying from side-to-side’
He and his female passenger had been followed by one concerned road user who confronted him before police officers arrived, having received “numerous” calls about Johnston’s driving.
“Officers saw he was extremely unsteady on his feet and was swaying from side-to-side,” the fiscal added. “When they spoke to him his speech was very slurred.
“He was drowsy and appeared to fall asleep during any periods of silence.”
A breathalyser test at the roadside showed he had not been drinking.
Johnston admitted charges of dangerous driving, driving when unfit through drugs and failing to stop at the scene of the collisions.
Cocktail of prescription meds
Defence agent Michael Burnett said Johnston had not been feeling or sleeping well for “a number of days” and was taking a combination of prescribed drugs to tackle health issues such as depression and arthritis.
“His position is he does not remember anything about the journey,” Mr Burnett said. “It’s going to cause him a number of problems, not least his transport arrangements for seeing his son.
“But it’s clearly a serious matter and he is going to be disqualified for a significant period of time.”
Sheriff Lesley Johnston told him he was lucky that no one was hurt.
“This is a serious incident and a number of people could have been injured as a result of your actions,” she said. “It’s really good fortune that no one was injured.
“A custodial sentence was very much in my mind today when dealing with this case. However, in light of your limited record and a positive background report I am going to deal with this by way of a community payback order.”
Apologised to the court
She handed him 133 hours of unpaid work, a one-year supervision order and a 16-month roads ban.
Johnston, of Boyd Orr Avenue, Aberdeen, told the court as he left: “Thank you… my apologies.”
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen, as well as the latest crime and breaking incidents, join our new Facebook group HERE.
