Ban for young driver seen skidding around public car park

A YOUNG driver seen skidding around the Lerwick fish market car park has been banned from the road and fined.

John Robertson almost collided with the side of the pier and drove at “fairly high speeds” on the wet surface.

A fishing boat skipper was so concerned about the manner of Robertson’s driving that they called the harbour controller, who then phoned the police.

Robertson, from Dunrossness, admitted to driving culpably and recklessly and at excessive speed in the Lerwick fish market car park on 15 March this year.

Lerwick Sheriff Court heard on Wednesday that the 21 year old had gone there at around 7pm “for no other reason” but to skid around the car park.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said that the car park was easily accessible by the public and regularly used by people walking around Lerwick.

It had been raining and the surface was wet, Mackenzie said, which meant there was “very little stopping a vehicle going off the pier if great care wasn’t taken”.

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Despite a 10mph limit on the pier, Robertson was driving “well in excess of that”.

A concerned skipper called the on-call port controller, who watched footage from the pier and “shared the skipper’s concern” before calling the police.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said that Robertson was on his own in the car and “can’t particularly recall the evening”.

He added it was “fair to say he didn’t appreciate the potential dangers of what he was doing”.

The arrest had been a “severe wake-up call” for Robertson, Allan said, adding that he “won’t be doing this again”.

He said that Robertson’s driving licence was very important for him and his apprenticeship.

Sheriff Neil Wilson told Robertson that public spaces like this “are not a playground” and that his car was “not a toy”.

Robertson was banned from driving for four months and he was fined £400.