MoD driver faces sack for speeding

A MINISTRY of Defence chauffeur faces losing his job after his motorbike was clocked speeding at 125mph on Scotland's most notorious stretch of road.

Philip Gower, 41, who drives foreign dignitaries - including the King of Tonga last year - on official business in Scotland, received a nine-month ban.

The dad-of-six from Kirknewton, West Lothian, was recorded travelling more than double the 60mph speed limit on his Yamaha R1000 cc on the Dolphinton straight in the Borders last October.

His firefighter friend Steven McIntyre, 30, of Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, was clocked at 135mph on his Honda 600cc and was banned for 12 months.

But unlike Gower, he is set to keep his job, Peebles Sheriff Court was told yesterday.

Both men were each fined 450 and their not guilty pleas to driving dangerously by racing their machines were accepted by the Crown.

The Dolphinton straight in the Borders hit notoriety last year when Berwickshire hairdresser Neil Purves, 27, was jailed for nine months for hitting the highest recorded road speed in Scotland at 166mph on May 13, 2009.