A delivery man who watched a movie on his iPad while driving a van in bad weather on one of Scotland’s busiest trunk roads dodged jail today.
William Matthews was “so interested” in the movie he failed to spot that a police patrol car had drawn up alongside him, a court was told.
Police were alerted after receiving a call that Matthews, 55, had been driving his van erratically.
Prosecutor Robbie Brown said officers traced Matthews’ van at 6.48am on the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen dual carriageway between Forfar and Brechin.
The depute fiscal said: “They drew parallel with him and he didn’t notice them as he was so interested in the video -- however they could see him watching it.”
At Forfar Sheriff Court, Matthews, of West Moseley, Surrey, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.
The charge stated there was poor visibility on the busy dual carriageway at the time and Matthews was driving while distracted by a tablet device playing a video.
It was positioned on the instrument panel and obscuring the speedometer and other dashboard information.
The incident happened on February 6, 2019 near Clatterha on a stretch of the trunk road close to Finavon.
Defence solicitor Brian Bell said Matthews was a self-employed delivery driver who had hired the van for the trip from Coventry to Aberdeen.
He said: “He has lost his job as a result.
“It is fair to say he is embarrassed and recognises it was utterly stupid to be watching an iPad while driving.”
Sheriff Gregor Murray sentenced Williams to carry out 210 hours of unpaid work.
He disqualified him from driving for two years and ordered him to resit the extended driving test before driving on the roads again.
