Teen learner driver full of remorse after causing fireball in stolen BMW.

Teenager was driving on wrong side of road at time of collision

A learner driver caused a fireball crash when he motored along the wrong side of a busy Kinross-shire road in a stolen BMW and ploughed into an oncoming vehicle.

Three people were hurt in the head-on collision, including a woman who suffered internal bleeding and spent four months in hospital.

Perth Sheriff Court heard former Dollar Academy pupil Ross Broomfield, who took his mother’s car without permission, was in a “buoyant mood” and “full of beans” after overcoming a serious illness. He had also recently finished school and was excited about becoming a student at Strathclyde University.

The 18-year-old admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Broomfield, of White Wisp Gardens, Dollar, further admitted taking the car without consent and driving without insurance and on a provisional licence without L-plates or a supervising driver.

He was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and has been banned from the road for two years.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said: “The consequences for you and for the others by your actions are such that a number of lives could have been ruined. Any one of these people could have lost their lives,” he said.

“It goes without saying this could have been a tragedy.”

The crash happened on the A977 Kinross to Kincardine road, near Windy Edge Cottages, in August last year.

Depute fiscal Katrina Dalrymple said Broomfield had been out with friend Ramsay Bryce when he decided to take his mother’s car at around 11.30pm.

Motorist Allan Donaldson, who was travelling to St Andrews, said he saw the headlights of Broomfield’s oncoming vehicle.

“It was on the wrong side of the road,” Ms Dalrymple said. “He was unable to take evasive action and the cars collided head-on.”

Mr Donaldson’s Renault Laguna burst into flames. He was seen getting out of the vehicle and collapsing on to the grass verge. Mr Donaldson escaped with a fractured wrist but his passenger Khristine Elma spent months in hospital.

Broomfield, who the court heard was “full of remorse”, had helped passers-by as they raced to the aid of the injured people.

Ross Broomfield was told his actions could have caused a big tragedy.