Drugs-driver hurt in crash escaped from ambulance

A YOUNG man high on cannabis unstrapped himself from a spinal board in the back of an ambulance and fled from police who had arrested him for drugsdriving after a crash, a court heard yesterday.

Josh Millar, 20, was so heavily under the influence of the drug that he could barely stay awake after an accident on the A81 near Strathblane, Stirlingshire.

The incident, on March 3 this year, happened as jobless Millar drove his mother’s Audi A3 to his grandmother’s for breakfast.

Adrian Fraser, prosecuting, told Stirling Sheriff Court that police were called and officers noticed Millar was ‘staggering’. He complained of a sore back and was put in an ambulance.

Mr Fraser said: ‘The police followed the ambulance and noticed the accused was freeing himself from a spinal board. When the ambulance stopped briefly, he made off. A short time later he was found by the police officers hiding in some bushes.’

Millar, of Balfron, Stirlingshire, pleaded guilty to driving while under the influence of drugs and possessing cannabis.

His not guilty plea to a charge of careless driving was accepted by the Crown. An allegation that his escape from the back of the ambulance was a deliberate attempt to pervert the course of justice was also dropped.

Sheriff Wyllie Robertson deferred sentence until July 9 for a social inquiry report.