Six-month ban and £500 fine for driver who drove at speeds up to 90 miles per hour

A speeding driver who reached speeds of up to 90mph has been banned from the road for six months and fined £500.

George Hobbin, 24, of Bridge of Walls, was spotted by police driving towards them at an “obviously excessive speed” after they received complaints of speeding in Burra in February.

Hobbin had reached the Brig o’ Fitch before he was eventually stopped.

At Lerwick Sheriff Court today he admitted driving carelessly and at excessive speed on the road from Trondra to Scalloway and beyond the top of the Scord – his third speeding offence since 2005.

Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie said police were “confronted” by Hobbin’s vehicle coming in the opposite direction as they responded to complaints from the public.

“They turned round and took some time to get anywhere near him,” Mr MacKenzie told sheriff Philip Mann. “You’ll note from the locations there is a significant distance travelled here.”

Defence agent Gregor Kelly said the joiner had matured as a driver and, of late, had been carrying out a 64-mile round commute.

He said Hobbin had been in Burra socialising with friends. By the time he was caught it was quite late and the roads were quiet. “He accepts his speed crept up,” Mr Kelly said.

The agent urged sheriff Mann to allow Hobbin, who is soon due to start an oil and gas apprenticeship in Aberdeen, to keep his licence or impose a limited ban.

The sheriff said Hobbin was lucky to be convicted of careless rather than the more serious dangerous driving offence which would automatically have attracted a ban with a requirement to resit the test.

As it was, he reduced Hobbin’s disqualification from eight months to reflect the early plea.