Interim road ban for businessman

Three young children were left screaming in terror in their parents’ people carrier after a road rage incident involving Perth company director Christopher Dickson, the Sheriff Court was told.

The 29-year-old, who works for family firm Dicksons of Perth, was driving his £37,000-plus Mercedes when he aggressively cut in front of their Ford Galaxy and slammed on his brakes, causing it to run into the back of him.

The accused, who had been playing golf with friends at luxury Gleneagles Hotel earlier that day, then shouted abuse at the family.

They locked themselves inside as he hammered on their badly damaged motor and tried to wrench open the doors.

Police subsequently breathalysed Dickson at his home in Croft Park, Perth, and he was found to be over the limit.

He claimed he had consumed two cans of lager after the accident, along with some wine, and denied he had told the other car driver he had been drinking all day.

Dickson had an interim driving ban imposed at Perth Sheriff Court after he was convicted of driving carelessly - and with excess alcohol in his system - and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards Alexander and Julia Nicoll.

He will discover how long he is off the road when he returns to Perth Sheriff Court for sentence on February 20.

Sheriff Gillian Wade noted he has a previous conviction for drink-driving from February, 2008, when he was fined £600 and disqualified for two years.

That would indicate he had a high reading on that occasion.

She deferred sentence to enable a background report to be prepared after he was found guilty of driving with one-and-ahalf times the legal alcohol limit in his system

His reading was 35 microgrammes – the maximum allowed is 22.

The incidents took place on Perth’s Atholl Street, Kinnoull Street, Marshall Place and the A912 Edinburgh Road in the city on February 28 last year.

The court was told that Dickson turned right without signalling and moved off from a stationary position when it was unsafe to do so.

That caused an oncoming vehicle to take evasive action before he overtook it and stopped suddenly in front of it, causing the collision.

He also behaved in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting and swearing and making violent threats.

Giving evidence, Dickson denied driving aggressively on his return to Perth and rejected claims that he’d first caused the couple to swerve on to the wrong side of the road to avoid a collision.

Dickson blamed the couple’s poor driving for the crash and claimed Mr Nicoll hadn’t used his indicators and hadn’t left an adequate gap between the two vehicles.

He also denied being aware there were three children in their car and that he had heard them screaming after the accident.