Hawick driver banned for 14 months

Several witnesses expressed concern at the manner of Tristan McCuaig’s driving on the A7 road between Galashiels and Hawick on the evening of Monday, November 9.

Eventually the 32-year-old – who is currently serving a prison sentence – ploughed into the back of a vehicle driven by Stuart Nicoll, who suffered head injury and a fractured rib.

Depute fiscal Tessa Bradley said: “It was dark and the weather was poor with torrential rain.

“At about 5pm the accused and three friends who were passengers left McDonald’s in Galashiels and were travelling south to Hawick.

“At the Boleside section of the A7 there are a series of bends where it is not safe to overtake, but the accused was weaving in and out of the line of traffic before going out of sight.

“Approaching Ashkirk another witness estimated the accused was speeding between 90mph and 100mph and continued to overtake in front of him and he even said to his partner at the time who is this idiot that is still overtaking on the bend?”

The court heard how Mr Nicoll thought McCuaig was going to overtake him in the face of on-coming traffic and slammed on the brakes only for McCuaig’s vehicle to smash into the back of his car.

Both vehicles were extensively damaged.

Ms Bradley said Mr Nicoll and his partner had no memory of the build-up to the accident.

McCuaig, formerly of Lothian Street, Hawick, pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving by driving at excessive speed for the road conditions, repeatedly overtake when not safe to do so and colliding with a car which resulted in serious injuries to the driver and his partner received a minor injury.

Defence lawyer Fiona Hamilton said McCuaig was appearing from custody as he was serving a prison sentence for assault and robbery and not due to be released until October.

She said Mr Nicoll braking sharply was a contributory factor towards the accident but accepted her client had been driving dangerously.

In addition to the disqualification period, Sheriff Peter Paterson told McCuaig he would be required to sit the advanced driving test and fined him £300.

No time was requested to pay the fine and McCuaig was given 14 days in jail which is to run concurrently with the sentence he is serving just now.