A 23-year-old learner driver from Inverness fled the scene after crashing his own car through a garden fence and into another car while unsupervised at the wheel.
Bobby-Joe Richardson, of Assynt Road, admitted driving carelessly before losing control and leaving the road at Kessock Avenue, then mounting a pavement and damaging the fence and the homeowner’s car.
Yesterday at Inverness Sheriff Court, Sheriff David Sutherland fined Richardson a total of £600 and issued his driving licence with nine penalty points.
Fiscal depute Fiona Murray told the court that two witnesses were sitting in their home overlooking the roundabout at Kessock Avenue when the incident happened at about 6.45pm on July 20 last year.
Ms Murray said: “They heard a loud bang and saw a vehicle had travelled through a garden fence at 76 Kessock Avenue and stopped after colliding on the rear of one of the witness’s car. Both went outside and saw the accused on the driver’s side, on his own. He then drove off and returned a short time later and police were contacted.
“It was established that he only held a provisional driving licence.”
It was one of two similar such incidents to affect the same property in Kessock Avenue last year.
Homeowners James and Catherine Lawless also spoke out in October last year when a white van crashed through their garden fence and slammed into a tree before stopping against their front door.
Yesterday, Richardson’s defence solicitor, Marc Dickson, said that his client had bought the car for £400 shortly before the incident took place and that he was taking it to a friend’s house to be fixed as it was in a poor condition.
Mr Dickson added: “Unfortunately he chose to travel a short distance – 400 yards – from his own home to his friend’s home and in so doing hit the roundabout and lost control and there was a collision as a result.
“He was a provisional licence holder and had passed his theory test but his decision to try and pass his (practical) test has been put on hold until this matter is brought to a conclusion.”
