North man drove at twice the legal speed limit on A9

A north welder has narrowly escaped prison after being stopped by police driving to work from his home in Wick at more than twice the legal speed limit on the A9.

Kevin Steven’s solicitor told Tain Sheriff Court he accelerated on a straight after passing the Nigg roundabout to get away from a car which had been driving bumper to bumper behind him.

Steven (42) of An Pairc, Killmster admitted driving dangerously on the A9 at Pitmaduthie at 126mph on August 26.

Sentence had been deferred until today (Tuesday) for reports at Tain Sheriff Court.

Solicitor Joanne Morris said Steven often worked abroad on off-shore contracts but at the time of the offence was doing shifts at Evanton.

She said he was on his way to start a shift in the evening and conditions were dark when a vehicle pulled in behind him on the journey south.

The solicitor said Steven tried to slow down to allow the vehicle to pass but it didn’t and he allowed his emotions to get the better of him and became frustrated.

"At the Nigg roundabout he turned right towards Inverness where there is a long straight. In a moment of desperation and frustration to get rid of the car behind him he accelerated and this was a grave error of judgement."

She said Steven claimed he had been driving for only a matter of a couple of hundred yards when he was stopped by the police.

But Sheriff Jamie Glichrist remarked: "If he had been in a rocket he would have struggled to accelerate that quickly. We are talking about twice the legal limit."

Mrs Morris said Steven needed his licence to get to work and he would be willing to undertake community service as an alternative to custody.

She said the social work report regarded him as a minimal risk of committing a similar offence.

Sheriff Gilchrist told Steven: "You drove at a grotesquely high speed. This is a bad bad case of dangerous driving. People who drive at that speed must expect the court consider prison as a sentencing option."

But the sheriff said he took into account Steven was not a regular offender and had never been in prison before so the court was required to consider an alternative to custody.

He ordered him to carry out 250 hours of community service and banned him from driving for 12 months and to resit his driving test.