Police chased WAG as sparks f lew off shredded tyres and fuel leaked from car
A WAG drove with sparks flying from her shredded tyres during a police chase in what a sheriff said was ‘one of the worst examples of dangerous driving’ he had ever encountered.
Jo-Hannah Eardley, partner of Livingston FC player Cristian Montano, repeatedly struck a central reservation in Edinburgh and drove her Smart car in the dark without headlights.
Eardley, 29, sped along the city’s Glasgow Road with fuel leaking from her vehicle.
Police even felt it necessary to call out the fire service for fear of the car bursting into flames.
The WAG – an acronym for footballers’ ‘wives and girlfriends’ – was sentenced yesterday at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, having previously pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.
Sheriff Peter McCormack told finance worker Eardley: ‘I take into account this is your first conviction and hopefully it will be your last.
‘However I have to say this is one of the worst examples of dangerous driving I have come across, particularly with your tyres shredding off and your wheels were sparking with your car leaking petrol.
‘A petrol leak and a spark had the potential for an explosion. You are probably too young to have seen the film Die Hard 2 but if you see that film you will see what happens to the aircraft when it was leaking fuel.
‘This could have caused death or horrendous burns to you or others.’
Eardley, handed a direct alternative to a custodial sentence, was banned from driving for 16 months and ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.
Previously the court was told Eardley was spotted ‘swerving over the road’ as she drove through the west of the Capital at around 11.25pm on April 14 last year.
Prosecutor Janet McDonald said Eardley drove through a red light.
Her erratic driving caused concerned motorists to alert the police.
Miss McDonald added that a witness spotted Eardley driving with ‘no lights illuminated’ and said she was seen swerving between lanes before ‘colliding with the central reservation’.
Eardley, a mother of one, then swerved again and struck a kerb before drivers were forced to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
Police in a patrol car spotted Eardley driving near the Newbridge roundabout.
The officers were said to have noted ‘heavy damage to the vehicle and parts of the car were flying off’. Sheriff
McCormack heard that Eardley’s tyres had become detached from the vehicle and officers could smell fuel leaking onto the roadway.
The prosecutor went on to tell how the car was eventually found abandoned near Eardley’s home in Livingston, West Lothian,
Officers found ‘both off-side tyres had disintegrated’ and there was ‘heavy damage to the alloy wheels’.
The court was told there was also damage to the vehicle’s bumper, rear wing, tail-light and wing mirror.
Police were then forced to call in the fire service due to fears about the dangers of the fuel leak, exposed wiring and ‘heat emanating from the wheels’.
A check on the vehicle revealed Eardley was the insured driver and she was traced by officers to her nearby home.
The WAG was said to have admitted to being the driver of the damaged Smart car when questioned by the police.
‘The potential for an explosion’