Man caused death of OAP in collision

AGerman motorist has admitted causing the death of a pensioner by driving on the wrong side of a picturesque lochside road on the Perthshire border.

Klaus Huber’s BMW 3 Series crossed on to the wrong side of the single carriageway A85 between Crianlarich and Killin, into the path of oncoming cars.

Huber, 40, was attempting to pull into a layby on the eastbound side of the road near Loch Lubhair.

A court heard he failed to maintain proper observations and gave no indication of the planned manoeuvre.

The 73-year-old driver of an oncoming Subaru, Patti MacKenzie, had no time to avoid a collision.

Her husband, Kenny MacKenzie, 79, her front seat passenger, from Helensburgh, was fatally injured and pronounced dead at the scene.

Mrs MacKenzie was severely injured.

The accident happened on July 27 2019.

At Falkirk Sheriff Court, Huber, of Reisbach, Bavaria, pled guilty to causing Mr MacKenzie’s death by careless driving.

No German interpreter was available for Tuesday’s hearing.

Defence counsel Michael Anderson said prosecutors had provided a written narration of the facts to the defence only the previous evening.

Mr Anderson said: “I translated the document via Word Translate and went through it (with the accused) but perhaps the safest course of action would be simply to adjourn for reports and for the narration to be read when an interpreter is present.”

Sheriff Derek Hamilton deferred sentence until January 10 for the preparation of background reports and the presence of an interpreter.

He imposed an immediate UK driving ban on Huber and told him the length of the disqualification would be decided at the next hearing, along with his punishment.

He continued bail and Huber was allowed to return to Germany for now.

Leaving court, Huber failed to respond to a reporter’s requests for a comment.

“He failed to maintain proper observations

CARELESS: Klaus Huber pled guilty to the charges.