Bus driver banned for crushing pensioner against car
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A bus driver who crushed a motorist into his vehicle after a "road rage" incident has been banned from driving for two years.
Former special constable Nigel Dunn was also ordered to resit an extended driving test before getting behind the wheel again.
The 52-year-old, who now works in a supermarket after resigning from Stagecoach shortly after the incident, will also have to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
Dunn appeared for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson told him: "No-one can look behind a jury's verdict. It was an unusual case because there weren't any of the aggravating factors associated with dangerous driving – no excessive speed as CCTV showed speeds of 0-3mph and no extended period of dangerous driving.
"It was at the lower end of the scale of dangerous driving but there were disastrous consequences."
At the trial last month the jury heard there had been a row in a car park in Carrbridge on March 22, 2017.
The pensioner, who is now aged 78, had returned to his car to find Dunn angry that he could not get his bus past.
Giving evidence, the pensioner said: "We had words. I suggested that if he couldn't drive the bus through the space, he shouldn't be driving, which was probably the wrong thing to do."
As Dunn drove off he trapped the man between the two vehicles, fracturing his pelvis in two places.
The pensioner spent five weeks in hospital and was in a wheelchair for the same amount of time.
He still walks with a stick.
Dunn had denied causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
However he was found guilty by a majority of the jurors.
The court heard that Dunn, who lives in Boat of Garten, had been "badly affected" by the incident.
Defence solicitor Nigel Beaumont said: "He has been driving since he was 17 with no convictions.
"He was a well-liked bus driver and has had many messages of support, but he drifted into a depression because of this.
"It has taken a toll on his health and I would submit it is at the lower end of the scale of dangerous driving, albeit the dreadful consequences."
