Golf fan hit with £17k bill after Open crash

Spaniard held in cells for four nights and missed tournament

A Spanish golf fan who spent the entire Open Championship in custody after a head-on crash near Carnoustie has been landed with a £17,000 car hire company bill following the accident.

Police arrested Alberto Garcia at the Ninewells Hospital bedside of his seriously injured friend after the crash on the tournament’s opening day.

He hit a minibus while on the wrong side of the road near the A92 in Angus.

The 47-year-old Spaniard was given a careless driving fixed penalty for the “basic error”, but was later charged with dangerous driving when the extent of his friend’s injuries became apparent.

He had spent three weeks in hospital and is facing a five-figure medical bill.

Garcia was kept in the cells for four nights before first appearing in court, meaning he missed the July tournament.

A Spanish visitor who came to Angus to cheer on a friend in July’s Open Golf Championship spent the entire tournament in police cells and has been hit with a whopping £17,000 bill after driving into a minibus on the wrong side of the road.

Alberto Garcia’s “basic” error near Carnoustie on the opening day of the tournament also left a friend hospitalised for three weeks and facing a five-figure medical bill.

The 47-year-old Basque resident had paid a roadside fine following the morning crash but was later arrested at his seriously injured friend’s bedside in Ninewells Hospital on a dangerous driving charge and kept in custody for five days.

Garcia, of Araba Alava in northern Spain, returned to Angus to appear in the dock at Forfar Sheriff Court yesterday when he admitted a reduced charge of driving carelessly on the B962 near Carnoustie, injuring himself and two others on July 19.

Depute fiscal Stewart Duncan told the court the crash happened just before 9am when Garcia came off an A92 slip road and drove into the path of an oncoming minibus.

“He appears to have joined the road on the wrong side and at this point the other vehicle came round the bend and had no chance to correct,” he said.

“Both vehicles sustained heavy frontal damage and came to rest on the footpath beside the road.

“Members of the public assisted before ambulance personnel arrived and the injured were taken to Ninewells Hospital. One passenger sustained serious injury and was operated on the same day.”

Mr Duncan said Garcia was given a conditional penalty offer at the time and accepted that, but following an update on the casualties, the fixed fine was rescinded and he was charged with dangerous driving.

Defence solicitor Billy Rennie said: “He has travelled back to Scotland to offer a plea today.

“He was visiting for the Open, staying in Edzell and playing a bit of golf and was heading to Monifieth when this happened.

“He has suffered a lot of emotional trauma as a result of this.

“His friend was in hospital for three weeks and he, somewhat sadly, was in hospital with him when he was arrested and kept in the cells from Friday to Tuesday.

“Given the plea now tendered and accepted, that seems somewhat harsh.”

Mr Rennie continued: “He is also strangely facing a bill for £17,000 from the car hire company despite having insurance, which is something that I imagine will involve further legal discussion.”

Garcia had been at the event to support friend and fellow countryman John Rahm – who didn’t make it into the final weekend of the championship, won by Italian Francesco Molinari.

“It is not a pleasant memory of his visit here, which he accepts is a result of his own driving, but it was a very basic error,” Mr Rennie added.

Sheriff Gregor Murray told Garcia: “I do not require to take into account the consequences of the act of careless driving, only the quality of the driving.

“I also take into account that you have spent several nights in custody in relation to this.”

Garcia was fined £300 and had four penalty points imposed on his licence.

He appears to have joined the road on the wrong side and at this point the other vehicle came round the bend