Bradley Young from Aberdeen was convicted of dangerous driving around Queens Link Leisure Park has argued that his period of disqualification which was uplifted by 30 months was excessive.
During a continued pleading diet in May 2023, the accused pled guilty to an offence which involved him reversing his car and then accelerating forward while people held on to the outside of the car.
When the accused had tendered his pea he was already serving a custodial sentence for a prior offence and he had also been disqualified from holding or obtaining a licence from a separate offence.
As a result of this, the Sheriff then imposed a fine of £900 which was reduced to £600 as a result of the guilty plea with an alternate of 14 days’ imprisonment.
The accused was expected to be released from prison in December 2025 and the 16 month ban was uplifted by 30 months.
Sheriff Principal Anwar delivered the opinion noting that the Sheriff had taken into consideration that the accused had engaged in a serious course of dangerous driving which involved him exposing him to the public and was in close proximity to pedestrians.
She made it clear that the Court is required to have regard to diminished effect of disqualification as a distinct punishment if the person who is disqualified is currently serving a custodial sentence. The Sheriff Principal also looked into the regard of the appeal namely the date of the disqualification should run from some date in the future when the appellant is liberated. However, the RTOA does not provide a mechanism for a delay in the period of driving disqualifications situations.
As a result of this she concluded that Court is not able to determine if the offender would be released early and if so when. Therefore the appeal against sentence was refused.