A Fife chef crashed through a coned-off dual carriageway zone and struck a police car while on the phone to his wife.
A sheriff told Kristofer Currie, 34, he was “lucky” not to have killed anyone on the A92 at Kirkcaldy West on April 13 this year.
Officers had to jump out of the way of his car.
Currie is executive chef at Balbirnie Hotel, Markinch.
The crash
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard police were at a breakdown in lane one of the dual carriageway at about 7.30pm and placed cones, with lights attached, in a tapered fashion.
A recovery vehicle was delayed and did not arrive until about 10:40pm.
Another police patrol car went to assist and parked 50 metres behind the first police van, with more cones placed about 100 metres further back.
Both vehicles had blue flashing lights and officers had exited and were wearing hi-vis jackets.
One officer, on the grass verge, saw a dark-coloured car in lane one coming towards them.
It struck two cones and entered the restricted area.
Fiscal depute Gavin Burton continued: “This alerted three PCs who took evasive action.
“The front near side collided with the front offside of the patrol car.
“The patrol car spun 180 degrees and came to rest in lane one.
“The accused exited the driver side of the vehicle and shouted, ‘I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, is everyone ok?’”
Apologetic after crash
The fiscal said no one was injured but “all vehicles” were extensively damaged.
The fiscal added: “The accused freely stated at the time of collision he was on his mobile phone to his wife via the hands free kit”.
He said Currie apologised and said he was “just glad everyone is ok”.
Currie, of Inverkeithing, admitted dangerous driving.
Defence lawyer Lewis Faulds said his client, who is employed full-time as an executive chef, was driving home in the dark and initially believed the incident was on the opposite side of the carriageway.
“By the time he had sense of the scene it was regrettably too late.
“He is extremely thankful no one was injured as a result”.
Character reference
Mr Faulds highlighted a character reference from Currie’s employers and said they are “determined” to keep him, despite him facing a driving ban.
The lawyer said his client was made redundant during the Covid pandemic but volunteered for a charity and put his skills to use.
Sheriff Garry Sutherland said he took into account the plea in mitigation, particularly what was said by his employer but added: “You are lucky someone was not badly hurt or even killed”.
The sheriff banned Currie from driving for a year and fined him £400.
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