Banned after speeding in residential area

Fined £500 on charges including dangerous driving

A driver who twice sped through residential streets was this week fined £500 and ordered to carry out 180 hours’ unpaid work.

Alexander Clark of Whins Road, St Ninians was also placed on nine months' supervision and banned from driving for three years.

The 36-year-old sped through the streets of MacDonald Drive, Buntine Crescent, Craigend Road, Barnsdale Road, Glasgow Road, Maitland Crescent, Broomridge Road and Polmaise Avenue in his girlfriend's car on November 28 last year.

The following month, Clark drove at speed through McLaren Terrace, Whins Road, Crum Crescent, Braehead Road and back to McLaren Terrace in the same vehicle on December 30.

Fiscal depute Paul Reynolds told Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday that officers on mobile patrol on November 28 observed the car pull out of a side road underneath a street light. They identified Clark as the driver of the car and followed him from MacDonald Drive to Buntine Crescent onwards.

Mr Reynolds said the car pulled out of the junction in front of moving traffic causing vehicles to break sharply. Officers switched on blue flashing lights and continued to monitor the speed of the car along Glasgow Road before turning left on to Maitland Crescent, an unclassified road in a built-up housing estate.

He added: “The car again gathered speed, driving in excess of 50mph before turning left on Broomridge Road and left again at Polmaise Avenue. Police officers in pursuit had to stop following the car due to dangerous driving.”

Mr Reynold added that the December 30 incident again involved a uniformed mobile patrol in McLaren Terrace, an unclassified road with a 30mph speed limit. They saw the accused in the car in front of them. Having received information, he said, the officers switched on the blue lights and siren. The car began to pick up speed and they followed it at speeds of more than 50mph.

It took a sharp left on to Whins Road and details were passed to the control room. Mr Reynolds pointed out: “The accused's car continued to drive at excessive speed, driving through junctions without giving consideration to other road users. At the end of McLaren Terrace he turned right at Whins Road, driving past his house. He turned left into Whins Road and pulled over outside his home address.”

Clark admitted a charge of taking and driving the vehicle without the owner's consent on November 28 at Murrayshall Road, along with two charges of driving dangerously covering November 28 and December 30 last year and charges of driving without insurance and a licence on both those dates. His not guilty pleas to two charges of failing to stop a vehicle when asked to do so by police, a further charge of taking a vehicle without the owner's consent and a charge of cannabis possession were accepted by the Crown.

His agent Virgil Crawford told Sheriff William Gilchrist that Clark had spent time in custody in the police station after the December 30 incident and been remanded in custody until February 5 this year when he tendered the pleas to the court.

The last conviction on his record, said the lawyer, was October 2012 and Clark had nothing else outstanding. The car had been his girlfriend's. They had been having an on-off relationship at the time. Clark had a set of keys for the vehicle. Mr Crawford said Clark's attempts to evade the police had been stupid. He asked Sheriff Gilchrist not to impose a custodial sentence.

Clark he said earned £400 per week and lived with his mother.

Sheriff Gilchrist told him: “It's fortunate for you that your dangerous driving didn't result in an accident which it very well could have. Driving that way in a residential area had the potential to cause risks to yourself and others.” Sheriff Gilchrist told Clark he hoped his time in custody had been a salutory one, adding: “I will employ an alternative to custody on this occasion.”

He fined him a total of £500 payable at a rate of £20 per week. He was also given two community payback orders each with nine months supervision to run concurrently; one with 80 hours' unpaid work and the other with 100 hours' consecutively to be completed within six months. Clark was also disqualified from driving for three years.

Driving that way in a residential area had the potential to cause risks to yourself and others