Inverness building boss caught driving while disqualified
A construction company boss narrowly escaped a jail sentence after a sheriff criticised his attitude after reading a background report, describing him as “full of self importance".
David Ross, of Culduthel Mains Court, Inverness, was appearing for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court after admitting driving his van without insurance and while he was disqualified on January 18, 2023.
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Ross (36), who employs three people, had been stopped by police for a routine check on Culloden Road and the offences were discovered.
Ross volunteered to officers that he was a banned driver before a police check confirmed it, fiscal depute Adele Gray told Sheriff David Harvie.
Ross had been disqualified just nine months earlier, in April 2022.
His solicitor advocate Clare Russell told the court that the attitude displayed in the report was not how her client presented himself to her.
She said: "He told the author of the report that it was an extremely stupid thing for him to do. But it was not just stupid, it was dangerous."
Sheriff Harvie said when he read the report: "Prison was the first thing that crossed my mind."
Ms Russell said Ross had now arranged insurance for his staff who could drive him around.
Sheriff Harvie banned Ross from drivifor three years six months, placed him under a year's social work supervision and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
But he warned the motorist that he had better prioritise the punishment rather than his own contracts.
