Bridge stunt ends in court

An HGV driver who drove a loaded vehicle transporter across Connel Bridge with his boss on the top deck has been fined.

Michael Kane, 52, of Fort William, appeared before Oban Sheriff Court and pled guilty to driving without due care and attention or consideration for other road users on June 12 last year.

The stunt happened on the A828 and led a concerned witness to report it to police and it being photographed by a driver and a BEAR Scotland bridge technician, with the photographs produced at the court hearing on March 10.

An HGV driver, who drove a loaded vehicle transporter across Connel Bridge with his boss on the top deck, has been fined.

Michael Kane, 52, of Angus Crescent, Upper Achintore, Fort William, appeared before Oban Sheriff Court and pled guilty to driving without due care and attention or consideration for other road users on June 12 last year.

The stunt happened on the A828 and led a concerned witness to report it to police and it being photographed by a driver and a BEAR Scotland bridge technician, with the photographs produced at the court hearing on March 10.

James Dunbar, procurator fiscal, told the court that motorists saw the transporter drive across the bridge around 11.15am with someone on its top level in ‘close proximity’ to the horizontal bars spanning the crossing.

That morning, Kane, who works for a haulage and transportation company serving the West Highlands and Lochaber, had been transporting four cars for key workers from Oban to Lochaber with his boss following behind in a fifth car, the court heard.

Solicitor Stephen Kennedy said the roads had been quiet due to lockdown and both men had been in communication during the journey.

At Connel Bridge, Kane’s boss ‘allowed curiosity to get the better of him’, said Mr Kennedy, and decided to check a rumour in the haulage trade that there was more overhead room than the 13ft 9in height restriction displayed at the entrance to the bridge.

Kane was instructed to drive forward at ‘walking speed’ so his boss could check the distance and he confirmed there was still 1ft 12ins of ‘clearance’, Mr Kennedy told the court.

Move

But two other cars appeared behind the transporter and ‘put pressure’ on it to move, said Mr Kennedy – so Kane had driven ‘slowly’ all the way to the end of the bridge with his boss still on top, the court heard.

Mr Kennedy said all the loaded cars had been properly secured with the necessary risk assessments and health and safety procedures in place and his boss had been harnessed to the transporter and had hold of ‘grab bars’ during the short journey.

Kane, a married father of two, who had held an HGV licence for 21 years and had a clean driving record, very much regretted what he had done, said Mr Kennedy.

Sheriff Patrick Hughes told Kane: ‘Indisputably, this shouldn’t have happened.

‘Whilst I have every sympathy for the position you were in – in the presence of a work superior – any driver must be conscious that at all times they are ultimately responsible for safety.’

Kane was ordered to pay a £200 fine and had four penalty points added to his licence.