Pc from Shrewsbury tells court he may have dozed off before crash
A Shropshire policeman told a court that he may have dozed off when the police car he was driving crashed into a parked car in the early hours – shunting it into another vehicle.
Pc Michael Laidlaw, 53, of Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury, a police officer with 26 years experience, said that he had not felt tired before the crash and that it was not a case where he had driven on regardless.
The officer, who serves with North Wales Police, denied a dangerous driving charge following the 5.30am crash at Gutter Hill, Rhos, near Wrexham, on June 2 last year.
He said if he had felt tired then he would have stopped and asked his colleague to take over.
Pc Laidlaw was found not guilty of dangerous driving by the jury at Mold Crown Court yesterday.
The officer had admitted an alternative charge of careless driving at an earlier hearing.
Judge Robin Rowland fined him £350 with £50 costs and three penalty points. The judge agreed that a portion of his crown court costs should be paid from central funds.
Defending barrister Hugh Barton said that his client had been willing to admit careless driving at the magistrates' court and if he had done so he could attended a driving course and avoided the penalty points. That was no longer possible because of the passage of time.
Prosecuting barrister Matthew Dunford told how the officer had worked a night shift and he and a colleague were returning at Rhos police station when the accident occurred.
Interviewed, Laidlaw said he recalled turning left at traffic lights and travelling along the road for some 100 yards.
His next recollection was his colleague shouting, he saw a car in front and he braked, but there was a collision. The Ford Focus police vehicle struck a Fiat Punto which was propelled into a Fiesta parked ahead of it.
Laidlaw rang his control room, asked for a supervisory officer to attend, helped his passenger out of the vehicle and secured the scene.
His passenger was taken to hospital with a hand and shoulder injury.
Interviewed, Laidlaw said he was possibly tired and that he may have dozed off.
An investigation by collision investigator Colin Dobbins, who analysed the on-board data recorder, showed the impact speed to be 29 mph.
There had been no braking until 1.1 seconds after the collision and no attempt to swerve to avoid the car. A breath test was negative.
Laidlaw, a father of two who previously served with the Met, told how he had driven since he was 17. He had a clean licence for 35 years and had been trained as a police response driver at Hendon.
