Driver fined after falling asleep parked on A90

Man, 27, ignored police amid three-hour snooze

A driver who endangered other road users by parking his car on a bend on a dual carriageway and going to sleep for three hours has been fined £1,400.

Darren Kelly left his black car unlit and straddling the A90 between Perth and Dundee after running out of petrol on his way to a weekend break with his partner.

He then spent more than 90 minutes locked in the car and arguing with police officers because he wanted them to let him go back to sleep.

Kelly, 27, Langside Avenue, Kennoway, Fife, admitted culpably and recklessly endangering others by parking an unlit car on the A90 near Inchture on June 28.

Depute fiscal Robbie Brown told Perth Sheriff Court: “The lights were off. It was a black vehicle which made it more difficult to see from a distance.

“It was parked on the dual carriageway. It was also on a bend.

“It meant other drivers had limited time to react. They didn’t see it until they were dangerously close.

“The accused and another person were sleeping in the vehicle. The seats were fully reclined. Sleeping bags were being used as makeshift blankets.

“When police tried to speak to them they were less than co-operative and thought they were doing nothing wrong. He said he had run out of petrol.

“He wasn’t prepared to engage much with the police. At one point he was laying down and trying to go back to sleep. He locked the vehicle and refused to open it.”

Mr Brown said the police officers who attended were also put in danger as they had to spend one hour and 40 minutes trying to get Kelly and his partner to leave the car.

Solicitor Joanne Ritchie, defending, said: “He should have made better checks to ensure the vehicle was not encroaching the carriageway in a dangerous fashion.”

She said her client had run out of petrol at around 1am and decided to go to sleep at the roadside.

“It was 4am when he eventually stopped arguing with police.

“When police knocked on the window of the car he was startled and he advised me the police made threats to smash his window.

“He accepts he was difficult with the police initially because he didn’t appreciate he had done anything wrong.”

She said the father-of-three could lose his job as a labourer with Cupar-based company Gradual Peak if he was to be banned from driving.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said: “You pled guilty to a very serious offence which could have had significant consequences.”

He said he would not ban Kelly from driving but he had to impose a significant financial penalty to mark the seriousness of the offence.

Darren Kelly leaves court after being fined £1,400.