Would-be taxi driver banned after car mounted pavement

A Dunfermline man with plans to become a taxi driver mounted the pavement while a man walked in the street with his young son.

James Fenton came screeching down a road in his car, lost control, mounted a pavement and finished up in a garden.

Fenton, 31, of Glen Fruin Grove, appeared in the dock at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

He admitted that on November 18 in Dunlin Drive, he drove a car without due care and attention, drove at excessive speed in a residential area, drove too close to a vehicle in from of him, lost control of his vehicle, swerved across the carriageway, mounted a kerb, spun around and crashed into a hedge.

Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia said the incident occurred at 1.45pm and the witnesses included a man who had his young son with him. He said: “The attention of the witnesses was drawn by loud engine noise.

“The car was being driven too close to the vehicle in front, he swerved into the opposing carriageway, swerved back across the road, mounted a kerb, went back on to the carriageway before spinning around, going over a pavement and into a hedge, stopping in a garden.”

Defence solicitor James Moncrieff said his client now accepted he was travelling too fast in the conditions. He said Fenton was unemployed and had hoped to find work as a taxi driver.

Sheriff Charles MacNair said: “This was a bad piece of careless driving. You were driving too fast when you knew it had been raining.”

He fined Fenton £840 and banned him from driving for 11 months.