Car driver fined £375 for towing cyclist at 30mph near Peebles

A motorist has been convicted of careless driving at Selkirk Sheriff Court after admitting giving a cyclist a tow by letting him hold onto an open vehicle window.
The Peebles Hydro hotel.The Peebles Hydro hotel.
The Peebles Hydro hotel.

Adam Hurst, 22, allowed his brother to hold onto the front nearside window of his car while he was riding his bike and gave him a tow at 30mph on the A72 Galashiels-Hamilton road at Glentress mountain bike centre, near Peebles, on September 24.

Hurst of Abbey Drive, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, was originally charged with dangerous driving but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of careless driving.

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Procurator fiscal Graham Fraser told Selkirk Sheriff Court how two people travelling along the A72 noticed Hurst driving a Volkswagen Polo with its hazard lights on and towing a cyclist.

Mr Fraser said: “The cyclist was hanging onto the window and pulled in at Glentress. The matter was then reported to the police.”

Hurst’s lawyer said the brothers did not realise they were committing an offence when they decided to give the bike a tow from the Peebles Hydro hotel to Glentress.

The court was told Hurst, a buyer for an engineering company, is training to become a pilot.

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Sheriff Euan Edment said: “Things could have gone completely wrong. It was a dangerous thing to have undertaken.”

The first offender was fined £375 and had his driving licence endorsed with five penalty points.