Dangerous Driving Charge M80 Airdrie Found Not Guilty

Our client was a 23 year old male accused of travelling at 106mph on the M80 whilst at a distance of no more than a car length from a vehicle in front. 

The police intervened and charged our client with a contravention of section 2 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 commonly referred to as dangerous driving. 

The suggestion was that our client was engaged in a high speed race without leaving a safe stopping distance from the vehicle in front.

Our client relied heavily upon his licence to allow him to continue working at a remote industrial estate. His father contacted our office to seek expert assistance for his son.

We advised from the outset that this was going to be an uphill battle but if he was to have any chance of driving away from Court then he must successfully defend against the allegation of dangerous driving. A not guilty plea was entered and the case followed its normal course through the system. 

We met with our client and his father to discuss the evidence in detail and we had identified a number of issues that we would be able to explore at trial, however, again we cautioned that the cards were heavily stacked against him. The real issue was the distance (or lack thereof) between his vehicle and the vehicle in front, not the alleged speed.

The case called for Trial on 17th January 2018 at Airdrie Sheriff Court. Our Mr Simpson attended and managed to negotiate with the Procurator Fiscal Depute to reduce the charge to one of careless driving under deletion of any mention of the alleged distance between the vehicles. Our client pled guilty to driving at 106mph in a 70mph limit and following a plea in mitigation, the Court endorsed our client's licence with 8 penalty points and imposed a fine of £270. A very good result in the circumstances.

This case looked very difficult on paper but we only tend to deal with the difficult cases and, more often than not, deliver outstanding results.

 Kept Licence!