A teenager who smashed his Fiesta into the back of a bus while undertaking on the A9 has been allowed to keep his licence.
The accident happened near the Auchterarder turn-off on February 17, last year.
Michael Oldham, 19, of Busby, near Falkirk, appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted careless driving.
Fiscal depute Sam Craib told Perth Sheriff Court the car he was passing was forced to brake to avoid colliding as he straddled both lanes.
“The accused appears to have panicked. He then collided with the rear offside of the coach. His car was a write-off.”
Mr Craib said details of the bus’s condition were not available but the damage was extensive.
The court heard Oldham, who was fined £400 and had four points place don his licence, had been working as an apprentice joiner at the Dunkeld House Hotel at the time.
“Luckily no one was injured,” his lawyer said.
Sick share threat
A Perth man who shared revenge porn with his ex-girlfriend’s sister and made a threat to spread it wider has avoided jail. Terence Angus threatened to spread the explicit clip of his former partner across social media.
Caught with blade
A Fife man who made a slash threat to a woman in Brechin while holding a Stanley blade has been placed under supervision for a year.
At Forfar Sheriff Court, self-employed tree surgeon Ryan McCabe, 30, admitted acting in a threatening or abusive manner on December 1 in 2022 at Montrose Street.
McCabe, who has previous convictions for violence and disorder, was approached while with his partner and an elderly man by someone who was concerned about the older man.
McCabe – on bail at the time – told her he would slash her and presented a Stanley knife.
She went home and called police, who traced McCabe and his partner at Brechin’s East End bar shortly after. He still had the blade.
McCabe, of Thornton Wood traveller site near Kelty, said it was for work puproses.
Solicitor Sarah Russo said: “The incident effectively involves Mr McCabe acting impulsively.”
Cooking the books
A former chef from Dundee who made benefits claims worth more than £25,000 by fraud has been ordered to pay back £1,800. Kevin Henderson was previously eligible for support but failed to tell the DWP he was earning up to £1000 a month in a catering job.
Expensive tastes
Shoplifter John Cooper, 19, of Kirkcaldy, stole £350 worth of steak and alcohol from a Dunfermline M&S store.
At Dunfermline Sheriff Court, after admitting six shoplifting crimes of goods worth a total of £1166.15, he was handed an £895 compensation order and 120 hours unpaid work
The offending spanned a period between November 24 last year and January 25 this year.
His haul was:
- £690 worth of electrical items from Boots in Kirkcaldy High Street (over two occasions);
- £350 worth of steaks and alcohol from the Marks and Spencer in Dunfermline High Street (over two occasions);
- £120 of games from Fire and Lightning Collectables in Kirkcaldy’s Mercat Shopping Centre;
- £6.15 worth of food from a Co-op in Kirkcaldy’s Dunearn Drive.
Defence lawyer David Bell said Cooper had fallen out with his mother and left home and had been living in homeless accommodation.
He developed a cocaine addiction and was stealing to fund it.
The lawyer said Cooper is back staying with his mother and it has been more than a month since he used the drug.
He was also placed on offender supervision for 20 months as a direct alternative to custody.
Mule fined
Drug mule Lulzim Musollari, caught at Perth as he drove hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of cannabis from Aberdeen, has been fined after spending more than a year on remand. Police stumbled on the £360,000 haul when they pulled over Albanian duo Musollari and Cezar Manciu at the Broxden roundabout after spotting a fault with their MOT certificate. Manciu will be sentenced later.
Dealer jailed
David Osborne, 47, has been jailed for more than three years for the supply and distribution of drugs in Tayside.
Police said he was arrested in April, 2023 after officers searched his vehicle in the Hilltown area of Dundee and recovered cocaine with an estimated street value of £300,000.
He pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of the class-A drug and was sentenced at the High Court in Stirling to 40 months imprisonment.
Detective Inspector Julia Ogilvie from the Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism Unit in Dundee said: “Drugs have no place in our communities and we’re committed to tackling the sale and distribution of them.
“We work hard to ensure Scotland is a hostile environment for those who want to engage in criminal activity.
Convictions like this prove you will be caught and forced to face the consequences.”
Eco-warriors come unstuck
Climate activists who broke into an oil depot to halt fuel deliveries spent hours glued to two tankers, not realising the trucks were decommissioned and had not been used for years. Among the group of five appearing at Falkirk Sheriff Court were Tayport pensioner Julia Redman, 72, and student Alexander Cowtan, 28, of Fintry, Stirlingshire.
Drink-drive Army man
A drink-driving Army lance-corporal was caught after getting his car stuck while turning at the entrance to a field.
Andrew Foley, 31, pled guilty at Dunfermline Sheriff Court to drink-driving (59mics/ 22) at Leuchatsbeath Drive, Cowdenbeath, on February 18 this year.
Defence lawyer Alan Davie said his client had given someone a ride home from the pub and tried turning in the entrance to a field when the car became stuck in the sodden conditions.
Prosecutor Catherine Stevenson told the court that a member of the public contacted police after driving past the vehicle at around 11pm.
Two police officers attended and saw Foley outside of the vehicle, with the tyres stuck in the ground.
Foley made off before being apprehended further down the street, the fiscal said.
Defence lawyer Mr Davie said when police arrived, Foley, of Kirktoun Gardens, Ballingry, had a “brief moment of panic”.
He said his client requires to work on vehicles in his job so “there’s a strong risk he will lose his ranking”.
Foley was fined £800 and banned from driving for 12 months.
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