A businessman has admitted driving carelessly after he ploughed his new company BMW into a house on Skye.
Colin Lawson had to be cut free from the tangled wreckage of his car after crashing into a road sign, fence, wall and the house.
He was uninjured, as were the occupants of the house in Sconser.
The 37-year-old, who is a regional sales manager for Heineken, admitted the charge of careless driving when he appeared at Portree Sheriff Court yesterday
The court heard Lawson, of Lismore House, Station Road, Oban, had been heading to catch the ferry at Uig, Skye to go to the Outer Hebrides for work when the incident happened on November 24.
Fiscal Stewart Maciver said it was a wet and windy day, and that first offender Lawson failed to take a sweeping left-hand bend in the BMW 320, instead going straight off the road and hitting the house. His car overturned on impact.
Defence agent Hamish Melrose said: “He left home at 5am to catch the 10am ferry from Skye. He had plenty of time and was not in a hurry.
“He felt the back of the car slide out on the bend. He tried to correct but seems to have over-corrected. It was fortunate he was not injured.
“He got quite a fright though. His licence is essential for his work and he voluntarily went through a driving risk assessment course after the accident.”
Sheriff Richard Davidson fined him £300, and issued him with five penalty points.
He said: “It is difficult to know how to treat this case. There seems to be no explanation about why you went off the road.
“Although it does not say so in the charge I think speed could have been involved. The occupiers of the house must have got a fright.”
“You have to drive at a reasonable speed and take regard of the weather conditions. The damage you did to everything implies speed.”
