Inverness careless driver avoids ban after colliding with taxi
A sheriff praised the swift action of a taxi driver who managed to avoid a head-on collision with a BMW driving along the same side of the road as himself.
However despite saving him and his two passengers serious injury, 29-year-old apprentice bricklayer Arkadiusz Byczkowski's vehicle struck the side of the taxi, and caused slight injuries to the occupants.
Byczkowski appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court and admitted driving carelessly along the Southern distributor road in Inverness in the early hours of June 18 last year.
He was fined £800 but after a plea by defence solicitor advocate Clare Russell, he kept his driving licence but had it endorsed with nine penalty points.
Sheriff David Harvie was told the taxi had picked up his fare in the Lochardil area and was driving along the road when confronted by Byczkowski's black BMW.
Boxing instructor Byczkowski told police called to the scene: "It was my fault. I was not paying attention."
Ms Russell said her client worked all over Scotland and would lose his job if he lost his licence.
"He also has to travel to Aberdeen to take a relative to and from hospital appointments."
Sheriff Harvie said he would not disqualify Byczkowski because of his clean driving record, his early guilty plea and Ms Russell's comments.
But he told Byczkowski: "You and three others were fortunate there was not a head on collision. The taxi driver is to be congratulated for preventing a more catastrophic outcome."
