Police driver wins disqualification appeal for emergency incident
A sheriff erred in not holding special reasons established for not disqualifying a police officer who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving when answering an emergency call, the Sheriff Appeal Court has ruled.
Sheriff Principal Craig Scott QC and Sheriff John Morris QC allowed the appeal by Natasha Watt against a 12 month disqualification imposed by the sheriff at Aberdeen following her plea.
The appellant and a colleague had been en route to an emergency call when they received a "distress call" – meaning that officers already at the incident needed urgent assistance. An officer had been heard to scream during the call. The appellant had crossed a red light at a junction, slowing down with her blue light flashing but without activating her siren, and a collision had resulted.
Sheriff Principal Scott, delivering the opinion of the court, said the sheriff had placed much weight on the fact that the appellant was not an accredited emergency driver, but that was an irrelevant factor, at least in the present circumstances: "What properly fell to be considered by the court were the appellant’s actual conduct and the circumstances in which that conduct took place."
He added: "For our part, we are satisfied that the appellant would probably not have entered the junction in the face of a red light were it not for the emergency nature of the mission she was undertaking. In other words, the extenuating circumstances generated by the emergency were, to our mind, unquestionably connected to the commission of the offence. Whilst the appellant did, indeed, plead guilty to a charge of driving dangerously, it was a momentary failing on the part of the appellant which created that offence.
"It may have been unfortunate that the appellant overlooked to activate the vehicle’s siren, but in driving as she did she had in mind the safety of other road users; she activated the vehicle’s blue lights and significantly reduced the speed of the vehicle. Against that background, it is, in our opinion, eminently open to this court to determine that special reasons ought to have been held established by the sheriff."
After hearing that as a new driver the appellant would lose her licence if six or more penalty points were imposed, and that it would be difficult for her to get to her new employment by public transport, the court quashed the disqualification and imposed five penalty points instead.