Driver in massacre claim wins his licence back early

A DANGEROUS driver who claimed his bad driving record had been sparked by the Dunblane massacre has won a court bid to get his licence back early.

Brian Hamilton was banned from the road for four years after causing a head-on crash with a dangerous overtaking move on bald tyres.

But now he has persuaded a sheriff at Perth to cut the ban so he can take over his father’s haulage business after his own offshore scaffolding work dried up.

Sheriff Michael Fletcher said: “With some hesitation, and taking into account there has been no further trouble, and the circumstances of the business which you might be able to inherit, I’ve come to the conclusion it’s appropriate to grant the application.”

Hamilton, tried over the crash in October 2013, was not jailed after telling the court the Dunblane shootings had played a role in his previous convictions.

The 39-year-old told Perth Sheriff Court that he had been in a relationship with the mother of one of the shooting victims and had since married her.

Solicitor Christine Hagen, defending, told the court that Hamilton had serious driving convictions from about a decade ago but had been out of trouble since 2005.

Hamilton, from Alloa, was found guilty of crashing into the path of another car as he attempted a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre.

He was also found guilty of two charges relating to having bald tyres at the time of the incident on the B9097 Kinglassie to Cleish road in November 2012. His ban would have ended next October, but he will now return to the road if he passes an extended driving test.