HGV driver who drifted across lanes on Kessock Bridge while holding a mobile phone learns his fate
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A lorry driver caught driving carelessly on the Kessock Bridge has been told he should not have been behind the wheel as he was too distracted by his wife's ill health.
Frederick Taylor (63) was driving an HGV north out of the Inverness area when he was seen by police using a mobile phone.
While trying to connect the device to a hands-free unit in his cab he ended up swerving into the other northbound lane on the A9 at North Kessock.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard the incident took place around 8.40am on March 21 last year.
Police were in a marked car and pulled alongside Taylor and noticed the offence before he swerved over the white lines, fiscal depute Emma MacEwan said.
She added: "Police observed him drift across the line from lane one to lane two.
"The accused was holding a mobile phone."
Police pulled Taylor, of Provost Road, Brechin, over and asked him about the incident.
He initially claimed he was not using the telephone.
However he later admitted to officers that he was trying to get it to connect to the speakers in his truck so he could check in on his wife who was home alone.
Defence agent David Patterson said: "He had lost signal and was trying to connect.
"His wife has bladder cancer.
"It was quite a stressful time. His mind was somewhere else."
Sheriff Gary Aitken said: "It would have been a lot more stressful if he had killed someone.
"This was an exceedingly bad decision.
"If you were that distracted then you should not have been driving."
Taylor was fined £500 for careless driving with a victim surcharge of an additional £20.
He also had his licence endorsed with six penalty points.
