A sheriff banned a 120 mph driver yesterday – and warned that the day might come when such high speed motorists would lose their vehicles to the crushing plant as part of their sentences.
Sheriff Andrew Berry told John Taylor that it might encourage such offenders to drive more responsibly.
Police clocked his high-powered Vauxhall Astra VX, on the mile-long Hempriggs straight leading into Wick, late on March 25, last year. The speed limit there is 60mph. Taylor, 26, a first offender, pleaded guilty.
Fiscal Fraser Matheson said that the charge was one of dangerous driving and the dangers were obvious, as there were a number of side roads leading off the A99. “Given the speed recorded, officers considered that an offer of a fixed penalty was not appropriate”, he added.
The car Taylor was driving, was described as being equal in power to a sports Golf GTi and belonged to a friend, Wick Sheriff Court was told.
Solicitor Michael Burnett said the offence was indefensible – “there was no getting away from it” – and Taylor simply had to accept the fact that the consequences of his driving would be serious. The conviction would cost the accused his job and it would also create inconvenience on the domestic front, as his partner was due to have a baby in August.
Mr Burnett added: “My client is well aware of your lordship’s position regarding such driving on local roads, as I am.”
Sheriff Berry said that the consequences of Taylor’s driving at “a ridiculous speed” must have been obvious to him and added: “I wonder if the time will be reached when it may be open to the court, by its own hand, to simply order the seizure of vehicles and have them crushed.”
The sheriff added that such a deterrent might make such hi-speed drivers more careful.
Taylor, of Willowbank, Wick was banned for a year and ordered to carry out 75 hours unpaid community work. He will have to sit and pass the extended drivers’ test before getting back on the road.
