A Fife Council worker has lost his job following a “dramatic” gritter lorry crash at a Kirkcaldy roundabout.
The town’s sheriff court heard Scott Graham drove too fast and went the wrong way round a mini roundabout, before flipping his truck and sliding it into a parked car.
The 31-year-old admitted driving the vehicle carelessly at the junction, where Windmill Road meets Normand Road, on November 28, 2021.
Video footage played in court showed the gritter tipping over and sliding into the car.
‘Overweight’ lorry
Procurator fiscal depute Michael Robertson told the court the incident happened around 4.15am and that conditions were dark and icy.
“It was a council gritter,” the prosecutor said.
“He was driving during the course of his employment”.
Mr Robertson said the gritter approached the mini-roundabout and began to turn right, the wrong way round the roundabout, and that “due to raised road markings” the vehicle flipped on to its side and slid along the road, striking the parked car.
Police attended five minutes later.
Defence lawyer Elizabeth Dryburgh said Graham accepts the lorry was overweight and travelling at 17mph on a downwards approach to the mini roundabout.
Ms Dryburgh said that although he drove the wrong way around the roundabout, he would have struggled to get round it by turning left due to where a car was parked.
Equipment out of action
The solicitor said her client also accepts he should have made sure the gritter was not overweight, though a screen monitor to check this wasn’t working.
She said her client told her that other staff at a cabin in the depot gave him the “thumbs up” and he took that to mean the weight was fine and drove off.
But she emphasised again that Graham, of Lochtyview Way in Glenrothes, appreciates he should have made further checks.
The court heard that Graham already has nine penalty points on his licence.
Ms Dryburgh said: “He has lost his employment with Fife Council as a result of that”.
Graham is now self employed as a landscaper, she said.
Sheriff James Williamson told Graham: “It’s a particularly dramatic event but I have to take on board it would appear the weight of load was perhaps a contributing factor and so was your driving”.
Graham was banned from driving for six months and fined £360.
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