Scotland striker Griffiths in court to face Dundee speeding charge

Former Dark Blues star denies reaching 62mph on the city’s Kingsway

Scotland striker Leigh Griffiths has appeared in court on a driving charge – just hours after Celtic’s 1-1 Champions League qualifying draw with AEK Athens.

The former Dundee star appeared at the city’s justice of the peace court accused of reaching a speed of 62mph in his £30,000 Mercedes on a stretch of the Kingsway in June last year.

The court heard from Police Scotland safety camera technician Scott Aitken, who said he was responsible for recording speeds from a mobile traffic camera vehicle that was perched on the side of the road.

Mr Aitken said he had parked his camera van on the westbound carriageway of the A90 Kingsway, around 450 metres east of the Myrekirk Asda roundabout.

The court was shown footage recorded on the state-of-the-art laserguided camera system, which had been focused on Griffiths’ car.

A cross-hair targeting system is used by the detection squad, which focuses on the driver’s licence plate before calculating the speed the car is travelling and over what distance.

The entire process happens at the speed of light and is completed within fractions of a second.

Mr Aitken, who has almost a decade of experience as a speed camera operator for Police Scotland, was questioned by depute fiscal Alan Kempton for almost five hours during yesterday’s trial.

Asked if the camera was operating fully on the day of the alleged offence, Mr Aitken responded “yes”.

He said: “At 2.21pm, I targeted the vehicle as it seemed to me it was in excess of the speed limit.”

Mr Aitken added this was based on his years of experience at judging whether an approaching car is travelling too fast.

Once this decision has been made, Mr Aitken said, the trigger on the camera is activated and the measurement is taken.

Griffiths is alleged to have driven at 62mph in a 50mph zone at Kingsway West near the Myrekirk roundabout on June 3 2017. He denies the allegation.

The trial was continued until August 30.

Leigh Griffiths was in court hours after appearing for Celtic.