A DRIVER who flipped his car at high speed near Faslane has been spared a prison sentence – despite a sheriff’s concern at the Helensburgh man’s attitude.

Paul Birss’s passenger was injured when the vehicle overturned on the A814 shortly before midnight on July 17.

Birss appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court for sentencing on Friday, October 4 after earlier pleading guilty to driving dangerously, erratically and too fast for conditions.

The 33-year-old, of Golf Place in Churchill, admitted attempting to overtake another vehicle on the inside lane on the approach to the roundabout at Faslane’s North Gate, failing to maintain control of his vehicle, causing it to veer on to the opposite carriageway and on to a pavement – only narrowly avoiding a collision with the vehicle.

As a result of his unsafe driving, Birss’s car collided with trees at the roadside and overturned, leaving his passenger with a facial injury.

The accident happened four weeks after Birss had been stopped for drink-driving in Helensburgh’s Golfhill Drive.

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Dealing first with that incident, which happened on June 20, fiscal depute Emma Petterson told the court: “At about 5pm police in a marked vehicle saw a car being driven in an erratic manner, crossing the central line, continually accelerating and braking harshly.

“They indicated the vehicle to stop and on speaking with the now accused, who was driving, observed his eyes to be glazed and detected a strong smell of alcohol from his breath.

“A roadside breath test was positive, and he was arrested and conveyed to Clydebank police office, where he was required to provide two specimens of breath. He was cautioned and charged and replied ‘f*** it’.”

Turning to the crash on July 17, Ms Petterson described how MoD police officers on patrol near the base at 11.40pm saw a vehicle being driven towards them with only its side-lights on.

“They observed it being driven erratically from side to side,” she said, “and noted that the interior cabin light was illuminated. They believed this to be suspicious, and turned their vehicle around to follow the accused. As they did so, the accused accelerated, heading away from them towards the north gate of the naval base.

“A witness travelling north on the A814 was approaching the roundabout at the north gate. As she began braking, the accused’s vehicle approached from behind at speed, entered an area of white stripes on the road and attempted to undertake her at dangerously excessive speed. While doing this the accused lost control of his vehicle and began to rotate clockwise, barely missing the witness’s car.

“His vehicle then went into a slide, carried on into the southbound carriageway, continued to rotate and landed on a pedestrian footpath.

“It overturned and landed on its roof, crushing the roof inwards towards the vehicle’s occupants.”

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The other driver stopped out of concern for those in the crashed car, and the MoD Police officers arrived moments later, and on seeing the scene called for help from Police Scotland, the fire brigade and the ambulance service.

Birss provided a positive roadside breath test and confirmed he was the driver, before being taken to Clydebank police office and then to the Royal Alexandria Hospital in Paisley for assessment.

Ms Petterson continued: “There he was required to provide samples for analysis, but refused, citing a fear of needles and saying ‘they scare the s*** out of me’.”

Defence solicitor Chris Rae told the court Birss had been remanded in custody for the preparation of a social work report after he failed to keep an appointment with a social worker.

Mr Rae said: “He accepts full responsibility. The offences stem from alcohol consumption on both occasions.

“There appears to be some issue here with alcohol dependency.

“Prior to being remanded he had worked as a crane supervisor and he’s confident he would go back to that if released.”

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That prompted Sheriff John Hamilton to express alarm that Birss could have been operating heavy machinery while in the grip of an alcohol dependency, and to observe: “That could be described as reckless.”

Mr Rae replied: “He fully accepts that for a period of time he had been consuming too much alcohol and had been reckless in his behaviour. Now he accepts there is a difficulty he must overcome.

“Initially he claimed to the social worker who wrote the report that he would prefer a custodial sentence; he did so in the belief that if he was given a community disposal, he would be required to undertake a restriction of liberty order, but it has been explained to him that that need not be the case.”

Sheriff Hamilton said: “It’s not his choice. The report says he stated a preference for custody. It sounds like he’s saying ‘the best option I can get is a bit more jail time’.

“He clearly has a problem. He behaves in this fashion, repeatedly drink drives, operates heavy machinery while alcohol dependent, didn’t co-operate with the preparation of the report, and eventually says ‘yeah, so what, a bit more jail time is the easier option.

“He appears to have an attitude where he doesn’t care or doesn’t understand the consequences of his actions.”

Sheriff Hamilton also questioned whether Birss really believed he had an alcohol problem, quoting a section of the social work report which stated that he “does not see this [drinking] as problematic and can control his alcohol use when he wants to”.

“That,” the sheriff said, “is somebody who’s in denial. He clearly told the social worker he doesn’t think he’s got a problem with alcohol.”

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Mr Rae said: “He had been unemployed for a period of time, and due to this had been consuming vast quantities of alcohol.

“He is fully aware he has an alcohol problem and that he requires a significant amount of help.

“He did not see his drinking as problematic in respect of his employment. In all the places he has worked, his employers have undertaken regular drink and drug detection programmes and he has never failed any of those tests.

“I would submit that he can be assisted in the community and that a community based disposal may well be the most appropriate option.”

Sheriff Hamilton told Birss: “I wasn’t impressed by your attitude or your demeanour in court, or your attitude towards the social worker.

“You have previous convictions for speeding, for driving without insurance, and for failing to provide details.

“And I’m still not convinced you understand the situation you’re in.”

On the drink-driving charge, Birss was banned from driving for a year, and handed a community payback order with 12 months of social work supervision and 60 hours of unpaid work.

He was handed a two-year ban on the dangerous driving charge and a further 80 hours of unpaid work.

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For failing to provide a specimen of blood at the RAH, he was ordered to do a further 60 hours of unpaid work, and his licence was endorsed with 10 penalty points.

He has until October 2020 to complete the total 200 hours of work.