An Angus farmer chasing a faulty tractor in an attempt to avoid an accident caused chaos by driving straight onto a busy dual-carriageway.
Andrew Gray, 40, of Balhousie Farm, Carnoustie, caused a motorist to swerve and narrowly avoided a collision with a police motorcyclist.
He forced the car driver to take evasive action after he joined the A92 Dundee to Arbroath road on March 10 2018, between Muirdrum and Arbirlot, before driving at “grossly excessive” speeds.
He then braked sharply after spotting the police officers behind, narrowly avoiding a collision with one of their bikes.
Forfar Sheriff Court heard the two police motorcyclists were on patrol on the A92 at 9.20am near the second slip-road to Muirdrum.
Directly ahead of them was a small black car when they saw a Toyota pick-up on the slip-road approaching at speed.
Depute fiscal Jill Drummond said: “It failed to give way to the black car and barged onto the A92, causing the driver of the small car to brake.
“It continued to accelerate at excessive speed, moved between both lanes and avoided running into the rear of a tractor.
“It then straddled both lanes, driving at speed and when near Arbirlot the driver realised there were two motor-cyclists behind him.
“He braked, mounted the near-side verge and one of the motor-cyclists narrowly avoided running into the rear.”
She told the court, when stopped and warned, Gray said: “I’m sorry, I tried to catch a tractor which had an indicator fault.”
An agent for Gray said his client had had the best of intentions, but had not executed them well.
He said: “The family farm straddles the A92.
“One of the tractors had been taken on the road, he tried to indicate to the tractor driver to pull over to try to avoid any accidents.
“He did not think the black car was too close, traffic was light with very little traffic on the road.
“His intention was to draw the attention of the tractor driver.
“It is a family owned business, he works every single day on the farm and 90% of his time is spent on the roads, jumping from farm to farm.
“He is the transport manager responsible for checks and maintenance of the vehicles and he works closely with the police, keeping the roads free of debris.
“He apologises, this has given him a real fright and the severity is not lost on him.”
Gray pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of careless driving. He was given six penalty points and fined £600.
Sheriff Gregor Murray said: “You, of all people, whose farms straddle the A92, should know driving like this can lead to very serious accidents.
“What you did could have caused any number of problems. You were trying to do something but executed it very, very badly.”
