Paramedic Speeding Driver Found Not Guilty Aberdeen JP Court
This case drew a considerable amount of press attention (see links at the bottom of the page).
Our client was a trainee paramedic who volunteered with a charity in his spare time. He had responded to an emergency call to deliver a piece of life saving equipment to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for a heart bypass operation (where the equipment in use had broken down during the surgery). Without the equipment arriving by 9am the patient - who was in intensive care - would not have survived. Our client set off a speed camera close to Laurencekirk (approx. 40 mins from Aberdeen Royal Infirmary) at 8:18am. His speed was detected at 102mph in a 70mph limit. He simply had to get there or a life would have been unnecessarily lost.
Our client correctly put the needs of the patient ahead of any personal concern about his driving licence. A criminal conviction may well have proved fatal to his registration as a medical professional.
We thought that the circumstances of the case had perhaps escaped the attention of the Crown so we wrote to the Procurator Fiscal's Office in Aberdeen asking that they review the case and withdraw the prosecution. Our requests fell on deaf ears. The Procurator Fiscal's Office were confusingly intent on prosecuting the case.
The case called for trial on 14th March 2018 where it was part-heard. It concluded on 8th August 2018 with the Court upholding our client's special defence of necessity and finding our client NOT GUILTY.
This case was dealt with by our Mr Simpson at Aberdeen Justice of the Peace Court on various dates between 17th November 2017 and 8th August 2018.
The case was widely reported in the local and national press:
Kept Licence!
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