A serial danger driver banned from the road for life has been jailed after he was found asleep at the wheel – then drove at speed at police when they woke him.
Derek Muir has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after racking up his seventh conviction for dangerous driving, his 14th for driving while disqualified and his 14th for driving without insurance.
Muir was disqualified from driving for life in 2014 after he was convicted of stealing a vehicle and driving it dangerously while banned.
Despite that ban he was found slumped at the wheel of a Seat Leon by a concerned motorist who was blocked in by Muir’s vehicle.
That driver phoned police, who turned up and found Muir still asleep.
Officers roused him and while they checked his details on police computer systems Muir stuck the keys in the ignition and sped off.
Fiscal depute Charmaine Gilmartin told Dundee Sheriff Court Muir managed to squeeze his car between a police van and a grass verge before driving at speed towards officers getting out of another vehicle.
She said: “They had to leap away from being hit. He drove at high speed with his headlights off in the dark towards the A90.
“At that point he narrowly missed a third road police vehicle.”
The incident took place on December 19 at around 4.19am and Muir was eventually tracked down a week later on December 26.
“Intelligence was received that there may be drugs in the Transit van he was in,” the fiscal depute continued.
“Amphetamines worth £510, cannabis resin worth £25, cocaine worth £630 and diamorphine worth £650 were found.”
Muir, 39, a prisoner at HMP Perth, pleaded guilty on indictment to driving dangerously, without a licence and without insurance on December 19 last year, and to possessing diamorphine, cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis resin on December 26.
Defence solicitor Paul Parker Smith said Muir had been living in his Transit van.
Sheriff Alastair Brown jailed Muir for 18 months and banned him from driving for nine years.
He said: “In view of your lifetime disqualification that may be academic.”
