ROOKIE DRIVER ‘A LMOST KILLED’ LOLLIPOP LADY
A lollipop lady has told how she was “nearly killed” by a rookie driver as she
Shaken Alicia Markie revealed she was inches from being mown down
in front of stunned young pupils in Paisley’s Old Mill Road.
Paisley Sheriff Court yesterday heard that as Ofelia Scott sped past her in her car, the wind force knocked her lollip0oppole out of her hand.
Ms Markie, 50, said: “If I had taken another step, I would have been a goner.”
She added that she confronted Scott after the near miss.
“I asked her what she was doing. She nearly killed me,” she said.
Giving evidence against Scott, 46, she said she had not even heard the car approach as she was on duty in Old Mill Road.
“I have no idea where it came from,” she added.
Scott, 46, of Spencer Drive, was originally accused of driving dangerously during the incident on May 16 while Ms Markie was on crossing patrol duties.
She denied the charge and went on trial before offering to plead guilty to a reduced charge of careless driving.
The lollipop lady told the court that round 3.10pm she had taken up her position in the middle of the road with the pole raised to stop a white car that she had seen approaching from the other direction.
Two children with their mother crossed safely to the other side and after they had stepped onto the footpath, she turned around to walk back.
“The car came flying past,” she said, “I felt the whoosh and the vibration as it was so close. “I don’t know how it didn’t hit me. “The pole fell from my hand as the vehicle passed so close to me and I staggered back. “I was in shock – I was shaking.” After Scott changed her plea to guilty, a defence agent said his client had only recently passed her test before the date in question and was a new driver.
She was a hard worker, he said, who held down two jobs and put in long hours in catering.
It had been a momentary lapse and she had learned a lesson.
Sheriff David Pender fined Scott £300 and endorsed her licence with five penalty points. (Adjacent to Kwik Save car park, Paisley Road West)