Joiner who drove at excessive speeds told to swap Golf GTi for slower car

A joiner who drove his high powered hatchback at speeds of up to 94mph was told to trade down to a smaller model when he appeared at Lerwick Sheriff Court – although he will have to wait six months until he gets his licence back to take it out on the road.

Francis Smith, 26, of South Punds, Levenwick, was caught driving his VW Golf GTi carelessly at grossly excessive speed on the A970 Lerwick to Sumburgh road on 13th November.

Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie said the incident happened shortly before 8pm in hours of darkness. The road surface was wet at the time of the offence.

“Traffic conditions were fairly light although he did overtake a couple of cars,” he said, adding that the police vehicle which eventually stopped Smith “took some time” to catch up with him.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said Smith knew at the time he was driving too fast, although he did not think he was going that quickly.

“When the blue lights came on he immediately stopped and co-operated with the police,” he said. He added Smith had taken steps to have his driving “checked out”.

Although he was too old to take the pass-plus test, he had enlisted a driving instructor to give advice.

However Sheriff Graeme Napier said Smith should avoid having such a high-powered car if he wanted to stay out of trouble in future.

“If you don’t want to drive fast don’t buy a GTi. If you want to drive a VW drive a Polo or a Fox and you won’t get into that sort of trouble.”

Disqualifying him for six months, he also fined Smith £700.