Van ended up on roof after A99 crash north of Wick
Emergency services were summoned after a van left the A99, collided with a wall and ended up on its roof, Wick Sheriff Court heard.
The driver, Stephen Bennett, was trapped in the works vehicle but police officers were able to extricate him through the driver’s window before firemen arrived on the scene of the crash on the Reiss-Wick road, on November 26, last year.
The 45-year-old, who the court was told smelled of alcohol, was conveyed by ambulance to Caithness General Hospital in Wick and was subsequently charged with driving while unfit through drink. He pleaded guilty.
Solicitor Fiona MacDonald said that Bennett had a few drinks after work that day and couldn’t understand why he had got behind the wheel.
She said: “He doesn’t know what was going through his head and is ashamed of his actions.”
Miss MacDonald said that loss of his licence would affect the accused’s employment as a construction worker which took him all over the country.
Sheriff Neil Wilson fined Bennett, of Dyke Road, Glasgow, £450 and banned him from driving for 16 months, describing the offence as “clearly a serious matter.”
