Pete Bevington

15 September, 2005

THREE people were fined at Lerwick Sheriff Court yesterday (Wednesday) after pleading guilty to breaking the 60 mile an hour speed limit on the Blackhill road north of Lerwick.

The 40 year old managing director of fish processors Shetland Catch, Derek Leask, of Kallibrig, Weisdale, was banned for six months and fined £600 for driving uphill at 92 miles an hour while overtaking a line of traffic in June.

Deck officer Aidan Cheney, aged 23, of Hangcliff Lane, Lerwick, was fined £600 for driving uphill at 86 miles an hour while overtaking a bus in March. Sheriff Graeme Napier gave him eight penalty points to deter him from repeating the offence.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said both men were driving German cars designed for the autobahns and their concentration had lapsed, and as soon as they had finished overtaking they slowed down. But Sheriff Napier said they were both travelling at “ridiculous” speeds, for which there could be “no justification”.

Later 28 year old Kelly Starr, of Leaside, Mossbank, was fined £400 and given six penalty points for driving 80 miles an hour downhill in the same stretch of road in March.