Pedestrian needed life-saving amputation after being hit by lorry in Inverness
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A pedestrian's right leg had to be amputated after the cab of a lorry knocked her off her feet and under the wheels of the HGV.
The woman was on her way to Boots the chemist in Kingsmills Road, Inverness at lunchtime on March 12, 2021 when she was struck by the vehicle being driven by 33-year-old John MacLeod from the city's Southside Road into Crown Street.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that MacLeod had been drinking the night before and the amount of alcohol in his breath would have been 37mcg at the time of the collision when the limit is 22mcg.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank was told that after the horror accident experts did a "back calculation" of the alcohol in MacLeod's system using the police roadside reading of 31mcg and a subsequent test at Burnett Road police station, which was 26mcg.
MacLeod, a Harris man but described as an Inverness prisoner, admitted causing serious injury, permanent disfigurement and permanent impairment to Ms Campbell to the danger of her life by his dangerous driving whilst under the influence of alcohol.
He was jailed for three years and banned from driving for seven and a half years.
Fiscal depute Shamyla Ghafar said that police experts determined that the junction into the narrow one-way Crown Street should only have been navigated by a careful, considerate and professional driver at a speed of five mph. Research calculated that MacLeod was driving at 8pmh.
Ms Campbell was a third of the way across the road when MacLeod turned at the bellmouth junction, with the cab striking her.
Ms Ghafar said: "As it entered, the cab swung round, pushing her to the ground. He was unaware of what had happened and continued forward. Her right leg then went under the wheels of axles three and four.
"A witness ran after him to tell him he had hit a woman and he said: 'I never seen her.'"
Taken to hospital she was put in an induced coma and ultimately received a prosthetic leg though the court was told it is so painful she can't use it.
She is confined to a wheelchair and is receiving treatment for her mental health.
Defence counsel Lorenzo Alonzi said his client expected to be jailed for the offence, recognising the consequences of this offence have been "immense" for the woman.
"He thinks about this every day," he said. "It is a matter of fact that he was over the legal limit after drinking the night before and he ought to have known.
"This was a very narrow junction and difficult to make. His eyes were everywhere but tragically the one place they should have been was missed."
Sheriff Cruickshank told MacLeod: "I accept you have expressed remorse. But this is a case where you drove an HGV at speed for the locus and whilst under the influence. The injuries you caused were significant, causing permanent disfigurement, permanent impairment and were life-threatening."
Before MacLeod can get his licence back, he must sit the extended test of competency, the Sheriff also ruled.
