A COUNTY father was rushed to hospital with a serious brain injury after he crashed a quad bike on wasteland in Wallyford.
Dale McVicar, 42, was driving the off-road vehicle near to the village’s Masons Way when he lost control and crashed on New Year’s Day.
McVicar had a young child as a passenger on the back when he took the bike out for a spin.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told that McVicar was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh following the accident and spent several months there recovering from his injuries.
A sample of his blood was taken by police and he was found to be nearly four times the limit for benzoylecgonine.
Benzoylecgonine is a substance made when the body breaks down cocaine.
McVicar pleaded guilty to a drug driving charge whereby he had 193mg of benzoylecgonine per litre of blood on wasteland near Masons Way in Wallyford on January 1. The legal limit is 50mg per litre of blood.
The court was told that McVicar took the child out on the quad bike and friends became concerned when they failed to return on time and began a search.
McVicar, of the village’s Affleck Rise, was subsequently found bleeding, with the vehicle lying about four feet away from him.
The court was told that the child was not found at the time but was located a short time later.
Lawyer Amy Macdonald, representing McVicar, said that her client’s brother had found McVicar at the scene suffering from a head injury.
Ms Macdonald said that McVicar had “sustained a serious brain injury” and had no memory of the crash.
The solicitor added that McVicar lost his employment as a result of the accident and had been in hospital for a “period of months”.
Sheriff Roderick Flinn said that the drug reading was “large” and he could have “caused injury to the child”.
The sheriff banned McVicar from driving for 16 months and fined him a total of £300.
https://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/23592066.wallyford-drug-driver-suffered-brain-injury-quad-bike-crash/
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