'Stupid' man crashed into ice while driving along frozen canal

A driver who crashed his car through ice after driving along a frozen canal was described as "mad" and "stupid" by a sheriff.

Police described the incident as "utter madness" at the time, while Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service called it "a very reckless act".

Andrew Nisbet, 25, is now facing financial ruin as a result of the crazy stunt, Livingston Sheriff Court was told.

British Waterways Board has sued him for the 16,000 it cost to hire a crane to recover his Peugeot estate from the icy water and Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade is likely to pursue him for a further 5,199.

Nisbet, of South Queensferry, near Edinburgh, was today sentenced to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work in the community.

He earlier pled guilty on indictment at to culpable and reckless criminal conduct by driving onto the Union Canal at the B9080 at Bridgend, West Lothian, on January 11 this year.

Paul Beaton, prosecuting, said the emergency services had received calls from members of the public about a black, W reg Peugeot 406 with two people inside being driven on the frozen canal.

When police arrived at the scene they saw the rear end of the vehicle protruding from the ice and feared the driver and passenger were trapped inside.

A major incident response was launched involving the emergency services and the fire service's specialist water rescue team.

While police searched the canal bank in freezing conditions, fire officers used an inflatable bridge to reach the car and check it was empty.

Mr Beaton said the officers put themselves at risk by walking on the ice.

Nisbet was traced as the registered keeper of the car and police went to an address he was known to frequent.

They were let into the house by his friend James Naismith, who confessed to being a passenger along with his West Highland terrier Jimmy.

He said: "I know why you're here. I was in the car as well."

Police managed to contact Nisbet later that day and he admitted driving on the ice and his car falling through the ice.

He told them he had exited the vehicle and gone home without alerting the emergency services.

He added: "I'll try my best to get it recovered."

Mr Beaton said: "Despite what the accused said, he didn't do so.

"It was recovered on January 15 by British Waterways. The recovery operation required the hiring of a crane and an environmental clean-up for spillage from the vehicle.

"The cost of this was 16,261.21 and I understand that civil proceedings are ongoing in relation to recovery of that money.

"Police described what he did as stupid."

Solicitor advocate Raymond McMenamin, defending, said severe temperatures last winter had caused various waterways to freeze to a degree unprecedented in recent years.

The accused and his friend had at first, out of curiosity, tested the ice by dropping boulders onto the canal surface.

"Having done that they decided they would test it further by taking the car, which Mr Nisbet had, onto the canal and drive it for a distance believed to be about half a mile or more.

"Remarkably they were successful in doing that and drove for some considerable distance until they encountered an area near a bridge where, naturally, the ice wasn't frozen to the degree it was elsewhere.

"The car dropped through the surface of the ice and there began a slow descent of the vehicle nose first into the icy water below."

Mr McMenamin said the car had sunk slowly enough to allow the accused and his passenger to open the doors and escape. "Not perhaps as dramatic as one might think," he added.

He claimed that Nisbet had telephoned a haulage contractor who agreed to recover the car for 200, but by the time he got to the canal the emergency services were there.

The lawyer asked the court to take account of the "unique" nature of the crime.

He said: "This was behaviour which was not motivated by malicious intent nor serious mischief nor indeed intending any harm to the public.

"I'm unaware of any other situation like this in Scotland last year despite the activities of other people on the ice.

"It would appear, quite frankly, that he was the only person considered daft enough to take an estate car onto the ice."

Passing sentence, Sheriff Donald Muirhead told Nisbet: "Police called you stupid and your own solicitor called you daft.

"People don't get prosecuted for being stupid or daft. You got prosecuted for having a criminal indifference for doing what you were doing."