A MOTORIST who was involved in an accident on a busy Clydebank road has been jailed after police spotted him driving his heavily-damaged vehicle along the A82 the day after the crash.

Patrick Robertson was sentenced to a total of 12 months behind bars for a series of motoring offences committed in Clydebank, Old Kilpatrick and Bearsden in January and October this year.

Robertson, 48, appeared in court for sentencing after admitting two counts of dangerous driving and two of being unfit to drive through drink or drugs.

Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard on Friday that a minor accident in Kilbowie Road on January 21 had nonetheless left his vehicle badly damaged.

Fiscal depute Craig Wainwright said: “He was told by police not to drive the vehicle.

“But at 3pm on January 22 police observed the accused driving his Volvo off the Erskine Bridge off-ramp, attempting to come on to the A82, driving very slowly where the speed limit was 50mph.

“The hazard lights were on and several cars were trailing behind it. Police brought the vehicle to a stop and the accused exited, but was unsteady on his feet and slurring his words.

“The officers noted a strong smell of cannabis coming from him and his vehicle.”

A search of the vehicle found a reefer cigarette and a tin containing herbal material inside, to which Robertson replied: “That’s all mine, I admit to having it.”

Mr Wainwright then described an incident in Bearsden on October 11 in which Robertson drove a BMW dangerously, collided with a vehicle coming the other way, failed to stop, continued driving, crossed the carriageway, mounted the pavement and ploughed into a garden before coming to rest on top of a log.

Witnesses saw Robertson trying, without success, to reverse the vehicle out of the garden and then saw him get out of the vehicle, apparently intoxicated, crawling along the ground and through bushes within the garden, before being arrested by police.

When confronted he claimed to have skidded on a patch of ice.

Gail Campbell, defending, said Robertson, of Knockside Avenue, Paisley, had a long-standing cannabis problem, but had not drunk or used drugs since the accident, having been remanded in custody at his initial court appearance.

She said: “He is very realistic. He fully anticipates a custodial sentence and being off the road for a very long period of time.”

Sheriff Maxwell Hendry said: “If I were only looking at the offences in January I could have been persuaded to deal with you other than by sending you to prison. “But the other case is a more serious matter, and another even worse case of dangerous driving.”You clearly put members of the public at risk, and in those circumstances prison becomes inevitable.”

For the Bearsden crash, Robertson was jailed for 10 months and received driving bans of three and two years.

For the A82 incident he was handed two 18-month bans and two fines of £360 – though no time was sought to pay the fine and the alternative jail sentence was imposed instead.