By Calvin Palmer
A hairdresser caught doing 166mph on a Scottish road has been jailed for nine months and banned from driving for five years.
Neil Purves, 27, of Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, was traveling on the A702 near West Linton, Peeblesshire, on May 13, when a police patrol was alerted by a ”high-pitched engine noise”.
When police caught up with him, their equipment recorded that he had reached 166.15mph on his Suzuki bike, Peebles Sheriff Court was told.
It is believed to be the highest speed recorded on a public road in Scotland.
Purves pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at a previous hearing.
Defense lawyer, Graham Walker, argued for a non-custodial sentence and said Purves was a man of good character who had been ‘’seduced” by the power of his high-speed bike.
It was clear no other vehicles were using the road at the time and nor were any cars parked nearby, Walker said.
“I think it’s fair to say the level of risk that the public were subjected to was very low but there was considerable danger, I think, to the accused himself,” he told the court.
Walker said his client posed a low risk of re-offending and had sold the Suzuki GSX-R 1000 motorbike.
“It’s fair to say that superbikes or motorbikes of this kind may have a seductive speed appeal and I think it’s also fair to say that Mr Purves was seduced by that element of speed on a long, quiet, straight stretch of road,” he said.
Sheriff John Horsburgh told Purves: ”The speed at which you were driving this motorcycle makes a custodial sentence the only appropriate one.”
Purves’ sentence was reduced to nine months from a starting point of 12 months on account of his guilty plea.
Last year more than 20 motorists were caught traveling at more than 100mph on this stretch of the A702, prompting calls for permanent speed cameras in the area.
[Based on reports by The Daily Telegraph and BBC News.]
