A careless driver swerved across the road and came within “inches” of a mother and son on the pavement, Inverness Sheriff Court has heard.
Alexander McMillan, 72, was looking “straight at” the pair – who he admitted he didn’t get on with – as he swerved his Vauxhall Astra across the road.
The pensioner had denied the charge of careless driving but was convicted following a trial.
In evidence led by fiscal depute Stuart Coleman, the 57-year-old mother told the court that she had been out walking with her grown-up son when they spotted McMillan driving along St Ninian Drive, Inverness, in the opposite direction.
‘I don’t get on well with them’
“He started going faster and he came over to our side of the road,” she said.
The witness said that, as a result of the manoeuvre, McMillan’s car came close to the kerb by which they were standing.
“I was standing on the pavement – he was only a matter of inches away,” she said.
Taking to the witness box in his own defence, McMillan denied swerving towards the pair, but conceded: “I don’t get on well with them.”
Under questioning from defence solicitor Marc Dickson he claimed he had been travelling on the same side as them and had moved to pass a parked car when the woman stepped into the road.
Sheriff believed mum and son
A family friend, who had been a front-seat passenger in McMillan’s car, confirmed this account but Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald noted that the timing of the incident she described was earlier than the one the mum and son had spoken about.
Convicting McMillan of a single charge of careless driving, Sheriff MacDonald said she believed the evidence of the pedestrians.
She said: “I accept you were on your own in your vehicle driving past them and swerved onto their side of the road.
“This was a very foolish thing to do.”
The sheriff fined McMillan, of St Francis Gardens, Inverness, £270 and imposed six penalty points.
