A former Moray firefighter has narrowly avoided a roads ban after he tore his motorbike around a private estate and then shouted abuse at staff there.
Neil Slessor was with a group of motocross riders on the estate near Rothes when he was confronted by the estate manager and a gamekeeper.
As the estate workers explained that the bikers shouldn’t be there, Slessor, 31, began shouting and swearing and insisted: “I can go where I like”.
Fiscal depute Naomi Duffy-Welsh told Elgin Sheriff Court the estate gamekeeper and manager heard the bikes on the land at around 11am on July 19 2020.
“They searched for the bikes and came across them next to a container on the estate,” she said.
“The manager challenged the riders for being on the estate and the accused approached him and started shouting and swearing at him.
‘Just because queenie says so…’
“He said ‘Who the f*** do you think you are? I can go where I like. Just because queenie says so on a bit of paper you think you’re so f****** clever. I’m going off now … you will never catch me. See if you can catch me.'”
He then rode away from the area down a grass track towards a burn on the estate.
The manager caught up with them a short time later but Slessor accelerated his white Yamaha away, spraying mud and dirt in the direction of the man in the process.
When police were called, officers matched up one of the bikes as belonging to Slessor thanks to insurance records.
Admitted careless driving charge
Though not personally present in the dock, his solicitor Matthew O’Neill confirmed guilty pleas to charges of careless driving, riding his bike on unauthorised land and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner
The solicitor said: “He accepts that he shouldn’t have been there at the time.
“Lockdown restrictions were in place but many had been lifted. But people were still taking exercise in areas such as this area.
“He should never have been there in the first place.
“Riding there was something many of the others had done in the area before without issue, but issue was clearly taken this time and he has overreacted to that and spoken in a manner that was not befitting of the circumstances.
“That’s a matter of regret to him.”
Claimed he needs licence for firefighting
Mr O’Neill added that his client is due to start a new job as an apprentice electrician in the new year.
“He is also a retained firefighter at Rothes fire station and although he doesn’t drive the engine he needs to attend the station at short notice and needs his licence for that,” the solicitor added.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has, however, confirmed Slessor is no longer a firefighter and is not employed by the service.
Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov handed Slessor, of Seafield Square, Rothes, three penalty points – leaving him just short of an automatic roads ban given his six live points. He was also fined £580.
