Driver (60) denies car chase charges

A man has denied trying to evade cops during a car chase in the hours of darkness on trunk roads in rural Stirling.

It is alleged that the chase ended with the car, said to have been driven by Ronald Baird, colliding with a police car, leaving both vehicles extensively damaged.

Sixty-year-old Baird, pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving dangerously on the A84, A85, A82 and, A85 on October 26 last year – and failing to stop when required to do so by police – when the matter called at Stirling Sheriff Court on Tuesday.

The chase is said to have begun on the A84 between Doune and Lochearnhead and to have come to an end on the A85 between Tyndrum and Dalmally.

The complaint states that Baird had driven at excessive speeds and repeatedly driven on the opposite side of the carriageway.

He is also said to have repeatedly speeded up and slowed down – and to have stopped the car suddenly before reversing at excessive speed, narrowly avoiding a collision with a police car.

Baird is alleged to have turned off the lights of his car and driven in the centre of a two-lane undivided carriageway to prevent a police car from overtaking.

The summary complaint further states that Baird drove with a deflated tyre, causing the tyre to become detached from the wheel and striking the police car.

Baird, whose has a NorthYorkshire address, is then said to have driven the car with no tyre attached before colliding with the police car – both vehicles it is alleged were extensively damaged.

At Stirling Sheriff Court on Tuesday, Sheriff Wyllie Robertson continued matters until the intermediate diet date of March 24.