Driver banned after following satnav down wrong side of A9

ANTI-TERROR police officers were forced to take evasive action when a car was driven towards them at high speed on a dual carriageway by a driver blindly following his satnav.
Iomhar MacKenzie was banned for 12 monthsIomhar MacKenzie was banned for 12 months
Iomhar MacKenzie was banned for 12 months

Edinburgh man Iomhar MacKenzie took a u-turn off a slip road and drove into oncoming traffic at 15mph on a notorious stretch of the A9.

One of the vehicles which had to pull out of MacKenzie’s way contained anti-terrorism officers on their way to the High Court in Glasgow, a court was told.

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MacKenzie, 50, an insurance loss adjustor, claimed he was following the instructions of his satnav as he turned north onto the southbound dual carriageway. He told Perth Sheriff Court he had a lifelong ritual of topping up his tank when it was quarter full and was aiming to get to a petrol station on the opposite side of the A9 before he reached that level.

Fiscal depute Michael Sweeney said: “It would be obvious that was a dual carriageway and performing such a manoeuvre would be dangerous.”

MacKenzie of Wardlaw Terrace, Edinburgh, was found guilty of driving dangerously by going the wrong way on the A9 on March 29 this year. He was banned from the road for 12 months and fined £400.