Ban for driver who hit OAP in Inverness city centre
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A motorist who thought a bus driver was waving him into a city centre street hit a pedestrian pensioner.
Office equipment salesman Michael MacNeil was set to lose his job, Inverness Sheriff Court was told, after he was disqualified from driving for five months for careless driving.
The 30-year-old of Ord Terrace, Strathpeffer, was approaching Queensgate from Church Street in Inverness on July 27 the court heard.
A bus was coming in the opposite direction and MacNeil thought that, when its driver gestured, it was a signal intended for him.
On that basis he accelerated into the street to allow the bus to move in behind him.
But the bus driver had actually been giving way to a 72-year-old man who wanted to cross the road.
MacNeil crashed into him, throwing him into the air.
He suffered bruising to his neck and a whiplash injury.
Defence solicitor Willie Young said his client already had six penalty points on his licence and asked Sheriff Sara Matheson not to impose a sentence which would mean a driving ban.
"He drives 3000 miles a month for his job, which his employers say he will lose if he is disqualified," he said.
Depsite the plea Sheriff Matheson said MacNeil's three previous convictions for speeding convictions meant a ban was necessary.
She also fined him £270.
