Man pleads guilty over mile-long journey on frozen canal

A MOTORIST who drove for more than a mile along a frozen canal before crashing through the ice has pleaded guilty to culpable and reckless criminal conduct.

Andrew Nisbet, 25, admitted driving on to the Union Canal at the B9080 at Bridgend, West Lothian, on 11 January this year when he appeared on indictment at Livingston Sheriff Court yesterday.

He managed to travel on the frozen surface as far as Winchburgh before the ice gave way and his car plunged into the water.

Nisbet, of Springfield Road, South Queensferry, West Lothian, admitted previous convictions. Sentence was deferred.

Nisbet, his dog and 22-year-old passenger James Naismith all escaped uninjured from the Peugeot 406 when it sank beneath the surface as the ice thawed.