Inverness driver careered through Wick at 50mph trying to evade police
A dangerous driver who careered through streets in Wick has avoided a prison term.
Callum Sutherland was banned from driving for three years and ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid community work at Wick Sheriff Court on Wednesday.
Sheriff Neil Wilson described the 27-year-old’s erratic driving as “a deliberate attempt to evade” the police and that he would have been justified in imposing a jail sentence.
Sutherland admitted a charge of dangerous driving and failing to provide two specimens of breath, on July 11.
The court heard this week that the police had reason to follow Sutherland and activated their blue light and siren signalling him to stop.
Fiscal depute Grant McLennan said that the officers lost sight of Sutherland as he accelerated but his Volkswagen Golf was picked up on CCTV cameras travelling at speed through the streets, at times on the wrong side of the road, forcing oncoming drivers to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
Witnesses observed the car at 50mph on the Service Bridge at the end of which he went over a roundabout without stopping to give way.
Mr McLennan added that Sutherland was traced and failed to provide two samples of breath.
Solicitor Kayren Stewart said that that her client should not have been driving at such speeds and went on: “Not only was he risking himself but other road users and he had no intention of doing so.”
Miss Stewart said that Sutherland was suffering from mental health issues at the time, relating to relationships, and that “emotions were running high.” She appealed to Sheriff Wilson to accept a background report recommending financial penalties.
The sheriff told Sutherland, a welder, of Glenurquhart Road, Inverness: “This is a very serious matter. Your dangerous driving was a dreadful course of action and a deliberate attempt to evade the police and I would be justified in imposing a custodial sentence, but I am not going to do that.”
The unpaid work, imposed as a direct alternative to prison, must be completed within a year.
