Passenger injured as man crashes due to hot coffee

A WOMAN was knocked unconscious and had to be cut free from wreckage after her boyfriend lost control of his car – while he held a hot cup of coffee.

Kevin Grigg smashed into an oncoming vehicle

Kevin Grigg, 23, swerved across the carriageway and smashed head first into an oncoming car as he juggled the scalding drink.

Grigg’s girlfriend Megan Raeburn suffered a blackout and the driver of the oncoming vehicle was also injured following the collision in Musselburgh earlier this year.

Firefighters were forced to cut the woman from the smashed car after she was knocked 
unconscious for around five minutes, while she also suffered a fractured collarbone.

Personal trainer Grigg has now been banned from the road and ordered to pay a fine following an appearance at Haddington Sheriff Court yesterday.

Depute fiscal Brent Bissett told the court that an off-duty police officer witnessed the smash, which happened as Grigg was taking Ms Raeburn to her work at around 9am on February 10.

Mr Bissett said: “The fire service had to attend to extricate Ms Raeburn from one of the vehicles – she was unconscious for around five minutes.

“He said when he looked up after holding the cup of coffee he noticed he was on the wrong side of the road.

“He tried to steer to get out of this but did not have enough time.

“Ms Raeburn had a left clavicle fracture, and the other driver had a tender sternum. The accused had lacerations to his right hand and a suspected fracture.”

Solicitor Mary Moultrie said her client had suffered a 
“momentary lapse of concentration” and that the collision had occurred after he had taken hold of the coffee from Ms Raeburn as she rooted around in her handbag.

Grigg, from Musselburgh, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of driving without due care and attention while holding a cup of hot liquid, crossing on to the opposite carriageway into the path of an oncoming car and injuring two people on the A199 Musselburgh to Edinburgh road on February 10.

Sheriff Peter Braid said: “I appreciate you are a first offender and with no previous driving offences of any sort.

“However, your attention was distracted because of a cup of coffee which resulted in you going on to the wrong side of the road. In those circumstances I feel disqualification is appropriate.”

Sheriff Braid banned Grigg from the roads for six months and fined him £340.