Friends fined after writing off £30k car

A MOTORIST who gave his friend "a shot" of driving his £30,000 Jaguar quickly regretted his decision when his friend lost control, crashed the car and wrote it off, a court heard.

At Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday, the car's owner, Edward Casher, 34, of Ocean Drive, was fined 265 having pleaded guilty to allowing Steven Jerrit, 35, to drive the car when there was no insurance.

Jerrit, of Duff Street, was fined a total of 400 for driving without insurance and careless driving on October 31 last year. Both men had eight penalty points added to their licence.

The court heard Casher allowed Jerrit to take control of the car on Marine Esplanade, but he lost control while driving at excessive speed.

Defence agent Nigel Bruce told Sheriff Graeme Warner that both men "were of an age when they should have known better".