A man has been handed five penalty points after reversing into an unmarked police car in Aberdeen.
Richard Smith had not realised the car following him was a police vehicle and so started to become anxious.
When the officers pulled up directly behind him at Scotstown Moor car park, the 40-year-old panicked, thinking he was about to get jumped.
And in an effort to drive off again, Smith reversed straight into the officers’ car, following which it swiftly became clear who they were.
Fiscal depute Emma Petersen told Aberdeen Sheriff Court police had cause to follow Smith’s car after spotting it on Roslin Street around noon on August 27.
‘Instinct was to drive away’
The officers followed Smith through various streets until he drove into a car park at Scotstown Moor where they pulled up behind him.
Ms Petersen said: “The accused’s vehicle started reversing and, as it did so, collided with the front of the police vehicle.”
Smith then drove forwards again and the police officers got out of their car and approached him.
He was searched and found to be in possession of £25 of heroin.
Smith, of Muirton Crescent, Aberdeen, pled guilty to careless driving and possession of heroin.
Defence agent Paul Barnett said there had been a “dramatic reduction” in his client’s rate of offending in recent years.
Richard Smith ‘had no idea it was the police’
He said: “He had a longstanding problem with opiate addiction.
“On August 27, he had been driving his brother’s car.
“He accepts he’d purchased some diamorphine during a period of relapse which lasted for around two weeks.
“He is now, as far as drugs are concerned, very much back on the straight and narrow.”
Turning to the driving offence, Mr Barnett said: “This was an unmarked police vehicle that pulled in directly behind him.
“He had no idea it was the police and his instinct was to drive away in case it was somebody who wished to do him harm.”
The solicitor said Smith stopped as soon as he realised it was the police.
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin fined Smith £470 and gave him five penalty points.
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