Dunfermline: Fine and ban for drunk driver who crashed lorry into car

Colin Kirk, 56, was driving an HGV with a trailer attached when he crashed into the back of a car stopped at traffic lights.

He had been on a journey to Aberdeen and back to Fife driving his employers’ vehicle that day.

Kirk, of Porterfield, Comrie, appeared back in the dock at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

He previously admitted that on February 28 at Baldridgeburn, Dunfermline, heading west, he drove a lorry carelessly and collided with a car.

He also admitted he drove having consumed excess alcohol.

His reading was 138 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the limit being 22 microgrammes.

Kirk had driven the lorry to Aberdeen and returned to Dunfermline when the incident occurred at 6.20pm.

A driver had stopped his Vauxhall Corsa at traffic lights when it was hit from the back by Kirk’s lorry.

The impact pushed the Corsa forward and it collided with another stationary vehicle.

The Corsa driver got out of his car to speak to the lorry driver and could smell alcohol from him.

The police were contacted and, when officers arrived, they too could smell alcohol from Kirk.

He failed a roadside breath test, was arrested and appeared at court from custody the next day.

Defence solicitor John Harper previously told the court: “This will have a life-changing impact on him as he’s been an HGV driver for decades.

“It’s been his sole career but it’s no longer open to him. He’s lost his job as a result of this incident.

“There had been an increasing reliance on alcohol by him at the time as a result of mental health issues.”

The court was told Kirk and his wife will shortly be moving to the Aberdeen area.

Sheriff Charles Macnair imposed a community payback order with 12 months of supervision, 125 hours of unpaid work and a fine of £265.

Kirk was also banned from driving for 16 months.