Misty windscreen lands driver in court

A landscape gardener has been rapped for driving with a broken demister.

John Cruicshank, 33, bought the ex-council van four months before it packed in.

Claims he got behind the wheel with a faulty fuel tank and flat tyre were dropped.

But Cruicshank admitted careless driving during a hearing at Paisley Sheriff Court.

Defence lawyer Gordon Ritchie insisted his client was able to see when he was pulled over for spot checks.

He said:“It was an ex-council van with a valid MOT.

“He only had it four or five months.

“It should have been working properly – it had some kind of electrical fault.

“It’s not being accepted he was driving around without being able to see outside the windscreen.

“There would have been mist at the top and bottom and around the edges.

“If it had been completely misted up, then it would have been impossible to drive in the proper manner and it would have been dangerous driving. “That’s not the case here.” The court heard the driver has been forced to shut his gardening business because he cannot afford to get back on the road.

He was pulled over in Paisley’s Burnbrae Drive on January 27 last year.

Prosecutor Meghan Glancy told how cops ordered him to stop for safety checks.

She said:“Police noted the windscreen was misted.

“When asked by police, he stated the demister was not working.”

Mr Ritchie told how his client discovered the van had been damaged after he went to collect it from a depot. He added:“This was his work vehicle. “It was left for three days where the check was carried out before being uplifted by 911 and taken to a compound.

“When he attended to establish how much it would be to secure its release, it became clear when it was collected it had been significantly vandalised.

“His insurance company declare it should be written-off and paid him £800.

“He has been unemployed since then because he cannot afford to get back into business.”

Sheriff Frances McCartney slapped four penalty points on Cruicshank’s licence.

She said:“I accept this is careless driving at the lower end of the scale.”

Cruicshank, of Spey Avenue, was also ordered to carry out 80 hours unpaid work in four months.