An Angus man lost his arm in a horrific road accident when a Dundee lorry driver coming the other way failed to heed a bridge warning that his trailer was too tall.
William Brierley appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court and admitted causing the crash that left Neil Black fighting for his life on the A92 last year.
The 54-year-old faced an indictment alleging dangerous driving, and failing to heed a sign that told him his 4.39-metre load was too big for the 4.26m railway bridge near Inverkeilor on March 30.
His Mercedes lorry crashed into the bridge and then into Mr Black’s car, which was travelling south towards Arbroath at Myreside.
Mr Black, 31, was cut free from his Volkswagen Golf and rushed to Ninewells in a critical condition just after the incident at 7pm.
The accident cost him a limb in surgery, he was left to fight a bleed on the brain, and the court previously heard he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mr Black, who won a damages case following the accident, suffered injuries he said “not a lot of people would have survived.”
Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson said: “I move for sentence and tender a schedule of previous convictions.”
Mr Black said he is “getting on fine” a year after the accident and uses a prosthetic limb.
He said: “Life is going to get a whole lot better soon and I would like to thank everyone that has helped me with support and friendship.
“I’ve done well in a year if I say so myself and I’m going to be doing even better.”
Brierley, 54, of Charleston Road, Dundee, pled guilty on indictment to a charge of dangerous driving, to Mr Black’s serious injury, committed on March 30 last year on the A92 at Inverkeilor.
Previous convictions were admitted by defence agent Gary McIlravey, who said he would reserve his client’s mitigation for sentencing.
Sheriff Gregor Murray deferred sentence until August 3 for social work background reports and banned Brierley from the road in the interim.
No one at Pollock, the haulier for which Brierley was driving at the time of the accident, was available for comment when approached.
