Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Police officer who smashed into tractor during overtake avoids driving ban – after taking up advanced lessons

Dundee Sheriff Court.
Dundee Sheriff Court.

A plain-clothes police officer has avoided a driving ban after a high-speed crash on a Scottish A-road after force bosses said they would send him for advanced driving lessons.

Detective Constable Stuart Scanlin ploughed his white R-series VW Golf into a tractor.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard Scanlin was driving at “excessive speed” before the collision and had crossed solid double white lines on to the opposing carriageway of the A92 road at Parbroath, near Cupar.

He overtook the blue tractor “at high speed” and while it was indicating and turning right into an access road.

He collided with the tractor and his car left the road, smashing into a fence.

The vehicle Scanlin was driving in the September 9 2018 accident was not a police car.

At Dundee Sheriff Court yesterday, Scanlin, whose address was given in court papers as care of Police Scotland’s Professional Standards Department, Fettes Avenue, Edinburgh, tendered a guilty plea, through his solicitor, to careless driving.

He had originally faced a charge of dangerous driving, for which he could have been banned, but prosecutor Gavin Burton accepted his plea to the lesser charge of carelessness.

Solicitor Gary McIlravey, defending, said Scanlin was not personally present for the case, by agreement with the prosecution, “because of work commitments”.

He said: “This was a country road. He was approaching a corner in his car when the tractor pulled out of a field on to the main road.

“He anticipated it would straighten up and continue down the road and thus performed an overtaking manoeuvre.

“Unfortunately he didn’t anticipate the driver continuing diagonally across the carriageway to enter a field on the other side of the road.

“He tried to anticipate what was happening but unfortunately got it wrong.

“He appreciates that given the road markings he ought simply to have decelerated.”

Mr McIlravey said Scanlin’s bosses had indicated the conviction “should not affect” his employment.

He said: “They will put him on an advanced driving course at the conclusion of these proceedings, so he will be able to drive for them in due course.”

Sheriff Craig McSherry fined Scanlin £400 and ordered his licence be endorsed with three penalty points.

It is understood Scanlin was not suspended or put on any restrictive duties as a result of the incident.