Musselburgh motorist escapes speeding ban by swapping 150mph Ford Mustang for Peugeot van

A driver charged with clocking 109 miles per hour in a five litre Ford Mustang has admitted it was “too easy” to speed in the supercar.
Police stopped Johnstone in his MustangPolice stopped Johnstone in his Mustang
Police stopped Johnstone in his Mustang

But Fraser Johnstone, from Musselburgh, escaped a driving ban after promising to sell the £45,000 muscle car and replace it with a much slower Peugeot van.

The 39-year-old told Perth’s Justice of the Peace court that it had been too tempting to put his foot down in the car, which goes from 0-60 mph in just over four seconds.

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Johnstone - who was banned in 2017 for a series of driving offences - faced a charge of speeding at 109 mph, but the Crown accepted his guilty plea to a reduced speed of 99 mph.

Fiscal depute Mairi Graham told the court Johnstone was pulled over for speeding near Glenfarg in Perthshire and made no comment when he was shown 109 mph on the radar gun.

Solicitor Kevin Connor, defending, said: “There was no excuse for having driven at such a speed. He recognises it was both excessive and unnecessary. He wasn’t in a hurry.

“He knew the road and the speed limit. He lost track of his speed momentarily. By the time the police put the blue light on he had slowed down close to the limit, before he even noticed them.

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“The car he was driving was a Mustang. It is, by his description, a very fast car and it is way too easy to accelerate in that car.

“He plans to make it harder for himself. He is going to sell his car and is thinking of buying a Peugeot Partner, which takes a bit of work to accelerate.

“Given his previous convictions, it is something he has done before and he doesn’t want to do it again. He does have a record of analogous offending.

“His record is something that is not helping him here. He was banned for 56 days in 2017 at Cardiff Magistrates Court.

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“Two convictions related to speeding twice on the same day, one was for parking on a zig-zag and he’s not sure about the fourth. That took him to 12 points and the ban.

“He recognises he really does need to try and slow down, so he is going to take steps to make it harder to travel at such speed. He understands he has brought himself here.”

Johnstone, of Bridge Street admitted driving the Mustang at 99 mph on the M90 Edinburgh to Perth motorway on 13 June 2019.

JP Tom Dodds said: “Clearly it would be competent for me to disqualify you given the circumstances and your driving history.

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“Whether it is a Peugeot Partner or a Ford Mustang it is entirely up to the driver to control the car in the way it is expected to be controlled.

“If you’re driving something with as much guts as a Mustang it makes no difference to me. It is up to you the way you choose to drive it.

“Any future fault in your driving and you will be right off the road. Do you understand that?”

He imposed six penalty points on Johnstone’s licence and fined him 420 pounds.

The Peugeot Partner, which costs around £18,000, has a top speed of just 88 mph and takes 16 seconds to go from 0-60 mph.