A car thief walked away unscathed after the van he had stolen crashed and burst into flames.
Kyle McGregor was told he was “fortunate to have survived” when he appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court yesterday.
However, the 25-year-old was banned from the road for two years after he admitted driving recklessly while almost two times the alcohol limit.
The court heard McGregor had been drinking with friends at Robertson Road in Lhanbryde before falling asleep on Saturday, September 20 last year.
When he woke to find the house empty, he decided to borrow a friend’s van in order to meet up with the others.
However, McGregor, of 5 Baxter Place, Lhanbryde, crashed the vehicle into a field along a stretch of unclassified road between the village and Garmouth.
Fiscal depute Kevin Corrins said: “Police and fire crews attended reports of a burnt out vehicle, which appeared to have skidded into a field and thereafter burst into flames.
“When police found the accused’s bank card beside it they sought to find out if he was okay.”
McGregor was traced nearby and found to have almost twice the legal limit of alcohol at the time in his breath.
He was taken to Dr Gray’s hospital in Elgin and treated for minor injuries.
McGregor’s solicitor Brent Lockey said: “My client’s friends left him asleep and went into town to continue their night out.
“He found the van’s keys nearby, and his position was that it would be a good idea to take it for a drive.
“The van later caught fire as a result of the collision, but luckily he had staggered off by then.
“He is a very lucky young man indeed, if the van had caught fire quicker he could have ended up in a hell of a state.
“This whole thing has been a real shake-up for him.”
Sheriff David Hall said: “This is an extremely anxious case, and the accused is fortunate to have survived this incident.”
He said it was only with the “greatest of hesitation” that he had decided to impose an alternative punishment to prison.
He ordered McGregor be kept under supervision for the next two years, imposed 200 hours of community service – to be completed over the next nine months – and disqualified him from driving for two years.
