Dangerous driver alarmed fellow motorists

A QUICK thinking member of the public intervened to ensure a man swerving back and forth across a busy main road did not cause a serious accident last summer.

Fifty two year old Richard Gentle, of Hayhoul Place, Bigton, admitted to dangerous driving on the A970 between Toab and Dunrossness on 5 August.

Lerwick Sheriff Court heard that Gentle’s vehicle had collided with a wooden building next to the Toab Shop at Virkie “much to the alarm of the proprietors and customers of the shop”.

Having taken the wheel while unfit through drink or drugs, he then reversed onto the road without checking it was safe to do so.

Later the same day a much more serious incident saw him “repeatedly swerve back and forth” across the road in the face of oncoming traffic, forcing one driver to take evasive action.

Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie said another driver travelling behind Gentle had “felt compelled to do something before a serious accident occurred”. The individual drove alongside the accused and gestured for him to stop.

Gentle had his licence revoked in September.

Asking for social inquiry reports to be prepared, Sheriff William Taylor deferred sentence until 3 April.