A mechanic caused a three vehicle pile-up in Inverness after keeping his epileptic seizures secret.
Nathan Craig yesterday faced a charge of culpable and reckless conduct by not notifying the DVLA of his ailment and causing a collision.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that the 25-year-old kept it a secret for almost 18 months, and attended around 15 call-outs by his employers, Stagecoach, to deal with broken down vehicles.
When he took his seizure, his vehicle went round a city roundabout the wrong way, emerging on to the wrong lane to face oncoming traffic.
Then Craig went through a pedestrian crossing before crashing head-on into a taxi.
The court was told it was “fortunate” no-one was killed.
After the collision, police investigations discovered that he had ignored medical advice and did not surrender his licence.
Craig, of Balmacaan Road, Drumnadrochit, admitted the offence and had sentence deferred for a background report until June 30.
His lawyer, Duncan Henderson, said his client had now surrendered his licence, adding: “He accepts he was foolish.”
The court heard that in early February 2015, he first suffered from a seizure while living in Edinburgh.
Fiscal depute Michelle Molley told the court that Craig was treated, and given medical advice, and apparently told in writing to advise the DVLA of what had happened. He did not do that.
Following various medical examinations, he was diagnosed with epilepsy and was written to by a GP who advised him not to drive.
Ms Molley said that once more Craig failed to notify the DVLA.
In June, 2015, he was told not to drive for at least six months, subject to a review after three months.
But on April 1, 2016, he suffered another seizure, and again did not inform the DVLA.
Ms Molley went on: “Between 11th May 2016 and 23rd June 2016 he repeatedly drove motor vehicles. on 15 dates.
“On June 23, 2016, was driving his employer’s van along Old Perth Road towards the Inshes roundabout in Inverness.
“He suffered from a seizure, and lost control of his vehicle which drove around the roundabout in an anticlockwise direction against the flow of traffic.”
The van narrowly avoided hitting two vehicles, went through a pedestrian crossing then collided head-on with a taxi, then being driven by Thomas Bryson.
Mr Bryson’s taxi rebounded, and was caused to collide with the car following it then being driven by John MacKenzie.
Mr Bryson suffered a cut to his head, while Craig sustained bruising and soft tissue damage to his chest.
“It is understood he has resigned from his work with Stagecoach. But his actions exposed the public to unnecessary danger. It is fortunate that nobody sustained serious injury or worse.” Ms Molley said.
A spokeswoman for Stagecoach said: “Mr Craig’s actions were completely unacceptable and he is no longer employed by our company. The safety of our customers, employees and the public is always our absolute priority.
“As soon as we received medical confirmation that Mr Craig was unfit to drive, he was immediately barred from driving as part of his role as a mechanic.
“However, more than a year later, he subsequently misled the company that he was medically fit to drive. Since the incident in June 2016, we have put in place further checks to ensure our processes are robust.”
