A speeding cattle truck driver overturned on a Perthshire road, killing nine cows.
James Gray has admitted causing the death of livestock he was transporting when he toppled his lorry on the A94 near Coupar Angus.
Perth Sheriff Court heard he tried to take a tight bend while travelling well above the 40mph limit.
His trailer, containing 27 cows, fell onto its side, bringing down his cab.
The busy commuter route was closed for several hours, while specialists were drafted in to help remove the dead and surviving cattle from the mangled trailer.
Gray, a self-employed LGV driver from Brechin, was originally charged with dangerous driving.
The 36-year-old father-of-one was banned from the road, despite his solicitor’s plea that if he lost his licence, he would lose his job.
A ‘serious’ lapse
Sheriff Francis Gill told Gray: “I consider that your driving on this occasion was at the more serious end of careless driving offending.
“You are a professional driver who was driving in excess of the speed limit.
“That caused the death of some of the animals you were transporting and meant the road had to be closed for a significant period.”
Gray, of Blackhill Cottages, was fined £375 and disqualified for six months.
Tipped at 45 degrees
Fiscal depute Stuart Hamilton told the court: “At 7.30am on the day in question, the accused loaded his cattle trailer at a farm in Arbroath.
“He took 27 cows which were due to go to an abattoir in Perth.”
The prosecutor said: “At 8.20am, the accused was travelling along the A94, about half a mile from Woodside.
“This road has a right hand bend before a disused railway bridge.
“The accused went into the corner at too much speed.
“This caused the livestock in the trailer to move to the offside.
“This caused the trailer to tip and in turn, caused the tractor unit which the accused was driving, to do the same.
“Both tipped at about forty-five degrees.”
The lorry crossed into the opposite carriageway and struck a wall.
“The wall held the tractor and trailer unit up,” said Mr Hamilton.
“However, both slid forward about 20-feet and just stopped before hitting the bridge.”
Cows ‘had to be put to sleep’
“The accused was able to climb out of the smashed window of his cab,” the fiscal depute said.
“He was observed by witnesses to have an obvious lower right leg injury.”
Mr Hamilton said: “Police attended and the accused admitted to officers that he had been driving too fast.
“An ambulance attended and police closed the road.”
Gray was taken to Ninewells Hospital for treatment to a dislocated and fractured ankle.
“Other employees attended to conduct the extensive process of removing the livestock from the twisted trailer unit,” said Mr Hamilton.
“It was found that nine of the cows were either found deceased or had to be put to sleep at the scene.”
He added: “The road was closed for eight hours.”
The surviving cows were taken away by specialists.
The court heard a tachograph assessment showed Gray was travelling at about 56mph.
Court urged not to disqualify driver
Solicitor Pauline Cullerton, defending, said her client has a clean licence and is a self-employed LGV driver.
“If he loses his licence, he loses his job,” she said.
“He is the breadwinner of his family.
“This was a lapse of concentration on his part.
“He accepts he was going too fast.”
Ms Cullerton said Gray’s broken ankle required to be pinned and bolted.
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