Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Golfers urge police to tackle course vandals
A GRANDMOTHER of 12 has been handed a driving ban after reversing at speed into an elderly couple before colliding with a jewellery shop.
Ian and Rozanna Rouse were knocked to the ground when Bozena Kopaczka, 69, accidentally accelerated into them while backing into a parking space in Blairgowrie.
Mrs Rouse suffered a broken leg and was told she may even require a new knee.
Kopaczka said she couldn’t explain what happened, but reckons her foot may have slipped.
Her car came to a halt after striking the front of the Victor & Sons store in Allan Street, Perth Sheriff Court heard.
Prosecutor Stuart Duncan told the court: “As she was reversing, for some unknown reason, she upped her speed and mounted the onside kerb.
“She collided with the front of the car parked behind. The vehicle continued to reverse and collided with Ian and Rozanna Rouse, causing them to fall to the ground.
“Thereafter, the car collided with the front of the jewellery store.
“Mr and Mrs Rouse were tended to by paramedics before being taken to Ninewells Hospital for precautionary reasons due to their age.”
He added: “Mrs Rouse suffered an upper right leg fracture which required surgery. There was a suggestion she would require a knee replacement.”
Mr Rouse was not seriously hurt.
Kopaczka, of City Road, Dundee, admitted causing serious injury by careless driving on October 6 2023.
Sheriff William Wood deferred sentence for background reports and issued Kopaczka with an interim driving ban.
POLICE have been urged to crack down on youths who are “wrecking” Caird Park golf course by riding electric motorbikes on it.
Golfer Mark Campbell says nuisance bikers have plagued the council-owned facility for the past couple of years.
The Logie Golf Club member says problems have grown with the rise of electric bikes, enabling joyriders to churn up the turf without being heard.
People who dare challenge the youths have been subjected to threats and violence, he claimed.
Mr Campbell wants police to take action after several recent incidents that have coincided with lighter spring evenings.
He said the joyriders’ favourite time to enter the course is at around 8pm, close to sunset.
“It would take half an hour of police work to catch them,” Mr Campbell said.
“It is really bad and getting worse. The greens on the third, 11th, 17th and 18th holes have all been damaged.
“They know exactly what they are doing as they only target the greens, causing thousands of pounds of damage.
“I don’t know why the police have not done anything about this as they are on the golf course almost every night of the week.
“The good people of Dundee pay a lot of money to play the golf course and it must be depressing for the greenkeeping staff turning up to work to find more damage done on a daily basis.
“It is embarrassing – the course is getting wrecked.
“It has been going on for a couple of years, since the electric bikes came out.
“It is not like they are on scramblers and you can hear them all over the place.
“Something has got to be done about this soon.”
Mr Campbell claimed the joyriders have recently assaulted members of the public “who have approached them to ask why they are doing this”.
He added: “They think they have the right to do what they want. I’m getting sick of it.”
Vandals also targeted the course in October 2022 when three greenkeepers’ gators, worth £16,000 each, were stolen.
The vehicles were then used to tear up fairways, greens and trees. The vandals then broke into a shed and stole a tractor.
Regarding the latest vandalism, Leisure and Culture Dundee said: “We are aware of recent incidents and these are being dealt with by Police Scotland.”
Inspector Keith Anderson, from Downfield Police Station, said: “Electric off-road vehicles fall into the same category as petrolpowered off-road bikes and as such are unregistered and illegal to use on the roads and on land without the owner’s permission.
“We rely on the support of the public to provide us with descriptions of vehicles, identity of riders – if they are known – and places where motorbikes are being kept or where fuel for these vehicles is being bought.”