Dramatic video footage shows a teenage driver ploughing his car through a Fife garden and roadwork barriers before crashing into a parked vehicle.
Jason Ward ended up in court over the dangerous driving episode in Bouprie Rise, Dalgety Bay, on April 30 last year and was found to be under the influence of drink or drugs at the time.
Weeks earlier, the 19-year-old had been caught driving while more than 12 times the legal limit for benzoylecgonine – a substance made when the body breaks down cocaine.
At Dunfermline Sheriff Court last month, he was sentenced to a 32-month driving ban, 200 hours of unpaid work and a two-month curfew.
The final few seconds of his dangerous driving were captured on CCTV from a property in the street.
It shows Ward’s car travelling through a garden and hitting roadwork barriers, before crossing the road and colliding with a parked car and garden wall – all while carrying a bush on his bonnet.
Ward’s car shunts the parked car out the way and comes to rest against a bush at the edge of the other garden.
A squirrel can be seen being thrown from the foliage onto the garden path and escaping around the side of the house.
Debris can be seen strewn across the road in the aftermath.
A neighbour said a dog walker in the area was lucky not to have been killed.
‘Airborne’ car
Last month, the court heard the teenager was driving in Dalgety Bay at around 5.10am when he lost control.
Procurator fiscal depute Azrah Yousaf said: “It was driven at speed over a pavement and at one point was airborne.”
The fiscal depute said locals went to see what has caused the “very loud noise” and saw the vehicle and “path of destruction left behind”.
Ms Yousaf continued: “They went to speak to the driver and saw him try to slide over onto the passenger seat.
“They helped him out the car.
“Police attended and the accused is seen to be in possession of a small amount of cocaine.”
Ward pled guilty to driving dangerously by failing to keep his car under proper control and travelling in the face of obvious and potential dangers at grossly excessive speeds.
Ward, of Inchview Gardens, Dalgety Bay, also admitted driving when unfit to do so through drink or drugs.
He pled guilty to another charge of being in possession of 2.88g of cocaine.
Local anger over sentence
One local resident said his neighbour had been walking his dog at the time and was 15 feet away from being hit.
He said he has campaigned to have the speed limit reduced on the street.
He said: “Bear in mind there used to be a school crossing guard outside my house and there is also a bus stop where the kids get on for Inverkeithing High School – so it’s a child populated area.
“The overwhelming feeling (in the community) is that 32 months, 200 hours and a curfew is an absolute joke especially for two separate incidents.”
Previous drugs offence
The court also heard Ward’s vehicle was stopped by police on Halbeath Road, Dunfermline, on the morning of April 1 last year due to concerns about a tyre.
He was said to be agitated and returned a positive drug swipe for cocaine.
While in police custody, Ward provided a reading of 644 mics of benzoylecgonine per litre of blood. The legal limit is 50 mics.
In court, he admitted drug-driving.
Defence lawyer Aime Allan said first offender Ward took his convictions as a “significant wakeup call” and had addressed his drug mis-use so it is “no longer an issue for him”.
Sheriff Francis Gill told Ward his driving had the potential to cause “catastrophic harm” to himself and others before imposing the driving ban and community payback order.
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