DANGER DRIVER (21) JUMPED OUT OF CAR

Cops spotted erratic driving at speed

An unqualified Stirling driver who jumped out of his moving car in a bid to escape a police pursuit was last week jailed.

Driverless, the Maza 2 Colour Edition rolled on and collided with a garden hedge while Aiden Lyon, 21, of Queenshaugh Drive, leapt over a nearby fence and escaped.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard police had begun to follow the four-year old car after noticing it being driven “erratically” and at excessive speed, sometimes accelerating harshly and weaving onto the opposing carriageway, in Bainsford, Falkirk.

Lyon was alone in the vehicle despite not having passed his test, it was not displaying L-plates, and the lights were not on despite it being dusk.

As officers in a marked police car followed it into Grahams Road, Falkirk, they signalled it to stop using their blue flashing lights, but Lyon ignored them.

The court was told he finally slowed down, turned off the engine and “exited through the driver’s door while the vehicle was still in motion”.

The car continued on and collided with a domestic property hedge while Lyon climbed an adjacent fence and was lost to view.

Police found a can of ‘Dragon Soop Venom’ Schnapps-and-caffeine drink in the console cupholder of the abandoned Mazda.

There was also a half-bottle of vodka rolling round in the passenger footwell.

Lyon, of Raploch, Stirling, was arrested later and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, and driving without insurance, unsupervised, and without L-plates.

The incident occurred about 9.35 pm on June 22 this year.

Greg Cunningham, defending, said: “Mr Lyon has asked me not to say anything that would deter the court from imposing a custodial sentence.”

Jailing him for six months and disqualifying him from driving for two years, Sheriff Derek Livingston told Lyon: “This was an extremely dangerous piece of driving. It’s fortunate it was only a hedge that this moving car collided with after you jumped out.”

Lyon showed no emotion as he was handcuffed to a security guard and led to the cells.