Jeep landed on delivery driver

A driver has been fined more than £1000 after a Jeep rolled off his car transporter and crashed into a supermarket delivery man.

The delivery driver underwent surgery on a broken leg and was in hospital for 11 days after the horror accident.

He was unloading groceries for a customer in Glasgow Road, Uddingston, when the driverless three-ton Jeep Cherokee ploughed into him.

A court heard that the accident could have happened because straps securing vehicles on transporters can loosen in wet weather.

Gordon Maule, 41, of Shawfield Crescent, Law, denied driving dangerously and failing to secure the vehicles on his transporter properly.

But he was found guilty after trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court, pictured.

The crash happened shortly before 6pm on December 5, 2019.

The victim – a Sainsbury’s driver – said he was putting items on a barrow at the back of his van when he saw a vehicle coming towards him.

He told prosecutor Alice Carey: “I didn’t realise there was no one driving it.

“I think I tried to jump out of the way, but I don’t remember exactly what happened. I might have blacked out.”

He was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery on a broken thigh bone.

A witness said she was travelling behind the transporter.

She recalled: “I noticed a Jeep on the bottom level was bouncing and its back wheels went down on to the road.

“I peeped my horn and flashed my lights.

“I thought to myself ‘I hope that doesn’t fall off ’ and it did.

“The Jeep veered off to the left and hit the Sainsbury’s van.”

The witness, a nurse, said she eventually got the transporter driver to stop and they both ran to help the injured delivery man.

Maule’s boss, John Gorman, of Glasgow Car Movers, said that in more than 20 years in the industry he had never known a vehicle to fall from a transporter.

He insisted it was up to the individual driver to ensure the loaded cars were secure and to flag up any issues.

Mr Gorman also told the court he believed the Jeep rolled off Maule’s transporter because the straps securing it had loosened due to rain.

Sheriff Mungo Bovey QC said that conclusion gave him “deep concern,” noting that it was a stormy day but nothing unusual for the West of Scotland.

Maule didn’t give evidence, but his lawyer, Michael Tierney, claimed the accident was caused by “a perfect storm”.

He said: “It was windy and wet, and the Jeep’s high point of suspension meant it was more prone to move. That has put the straps under pressure.”

Sheriff Bovey said it was up to the driver to “acquaint himself with any known hazards” such as straps becoming loose in wet weather.

He added: “The accused’s driving fell far below what could be expected of a competent and careful driver.”

However, in the “exceptional” circumstances the sheriff decided not to ban Maule from driving.

He fined the dad of two, who continues to drive for his employer, £1075 and put 10 penalty points on his licence.