Pensioner fined £300 after crash

A SPEAN Bridge pensioner was fined £300 for his first motoring offence in more than 60 years of driving when he appeared this week at Fort William Sheriff Court.

Ronald MacLennan, of West Tirinorish, admitted a charge of careless driving on the A82 at Spean Bridge on September 24 last year, when his car collided with a stationary Fiesta car in front at a junction, shunting it into a second car in front of that.

Procurator fiscal Robert Weir told the court that two women in the Fiesta were injured, with one having to be cut free by firefighters.

MacLennan, 89, who obtained his driving licence in 1956, had voluntarily surrendered his licence after the accident, and Sheriff Gary Aitken heard that the accused had no intention of driving again.

The court also heard the accident occurred on a Sunday and defence agent Stephen Kennedy told the court that MacLennan had been on his way to church at the time. ‘There was a convoy of eight vehicles and Mr MacLennan’s car was the last in this line. In front of the two vehicles in front of Mr MacLennan was a van which had braked quite sharply to turn right into the entrance of a farm,’ explained Mr Kennedy.

‘But then it did not turn in and there was some confusion and the result of all of that was that the Fiesta in front of my client ran onto the verge and he was unable to stop in time and collided with the rear of the vehicle.’

Mr Kennedy said MacLennan accepted he was perhaps too close to the vehicle in front and added that his information was that the two women in the Fiesta had made a full recovery. ‘But Mr MacLennan’s car was written off completely,’ added Mr Kennedy.

Sheriff Aitken added three penalty points to any licence he may hold in future.