A hit-and-run drink-driver left his victim severely injured before fleeing the scene of the high-speed crash by driving on the wrong side of a dual carriageway.
Tyre fitter Andrew Gentleman, who has two convictions for drink driving, was more than four times the limit when he caused the hit-and-run smash.
The 52-year-old, who left four people – including two young children – needing hospital treatment, was still four times the limit nearly four hours after the accident.
Gentleman, of Falkirk, admitted driving dangerously and causing severe injury and permanent impairment to Louise Louden, 38, on July 27 last year.
He also admitted drink-driving on the A90 Aberdeen to Dundee road.
Dundee Sheriff Court was shown dash-cam footage of Gentleman cutting across a junction in his Berlingo van and ramming into a Ford Fiesta.
Sheriff Lorna Drummond deferred sentence and granted him bail but told Drummond she was giving him the chance to put his affairs in order before being sent to prison.
Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told the court Louise’s daughter Chloe, 19, was driving the car with two children, aged five and three, in the back.
She said: “He manoeuvred the van into the overtaking lane and into the turning lane to cross the carriageway.
“The accused didn’t stop in the central reservation and drove into the path of Chloe Lowden’s vehicle. The force of the collision caused both vehicles to spin.”
An eyewitness said: “There was absolutely no way the Fiesta driver could have avoided it.”
As passers-by rushed to help the Lowdens, Gentleman fled the wrong way up a slip road. He was later found in a caravan park and breath-tested.
The court heard Louise spent 12 days in hospital and was left scarred for life and with restricted movement in her hand and persistent back pain.
The court was told the victims suffered post-traumatic stress.
