A director of a respected Perth car dealership has been found guilty of causing an accident that left three young children screaming in terror.
Christopher Dickson was over the legal alcohol limit when he aggressively tailed a family of five through the streets of Perth.
He eventually cut in front of the group – who had been enjoying a Sunday outing – and slammed on his brakes, causing them to run into the back of his new £37,000 Mercedes.
Perth Sheriff Court heard the 29-year-old had then burst from his vehicle to scream abuse at the shaken family.
They locked themselves in their badly damaged car as he hammered on its windows and tried to haul open its doors.
When driver Alexander Nicoll eventually stepped out of his car to speak to Dickson, a heated three-way argument began, during which the accused threatened Mr Nicoll’s wife, Julia, with violence.
They could smell alcohol on his breath – though he later claimed to have had just a single drink hours earlier.
Having terrified the family, Dickson then drove away from the scene, leaving the couple to calm their children and call the police.
A short time later he too called the police, claiming Mr Nicoll had refused to provide his insurance details and that he had fled the scene to “defuse” the situation.
When officers arrived at his home to question and then breathalyse him, Dickson downed an unfinished glass of wine in front of them.
He subsequently claimed his positive breath test was as a result of alcohol consumed after the accident – including two tins of lager he pointed out to officers.
Giving evidence in court, Dickson – who works for the family firm Dicksons of Perth – said he had been returning from a day out with friends at Gleneagles, which included lunch and nine holes of golf.
While friends had “four or five” pints of lager during the course of the afternoon, he contended he’d had just one.
He denied having driven aggressively on his return to Perth and rejected claims that he’d first caused the couple to swerve on to the wrong side of the road to avoid a collision.
Dickson said poor driving on the part of the couple was behind the accident, telling the court Mr Nicoll had been driving slowly, had failed to use his indicators, had made a last-minute right turn and had failed to leave a decent gap between the vehicles.
He claimed the couple’s account of his transgressions had been greatly exaggerated and said many of their statements were outright lies.
Finally, he claimed he’d been unaware of the three children in the rear of the couple’s car and denied having heard the children screaming in fright at the collision and argument that followed.
Dickson, of Croft Park, Perth, had denied three charges relating to the incident, which took place on February 28 last, but was found guilty following a trial in front of Sheriff Gillian Wade.
She convicted him firstly of driving on Atholl Street, Kinnoull Street, Marshall Place and Edinburgh Road in Perth with excess alcohol (35 mics). The legal limit is 22 mics.
He was also found guilty of driving without due care and attention by turning right without indicating, moving off from stationary when it was unsafe to do so and causing an oncoming vehicle to take evasive action, overtaking the vehicle before stopping suddenly in front of it and causing a collision with the other car, damaging it.
And he was convicted of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner by shouting, swearing and uttering threats of violence.
Sheriff Wade deferred sentence until February 20 for reports and disqualified him from driving in the interim.
