Dumbarton & Vale of Leven Reporter | News | Road rage marine's ploy to save licence

Thursday, 20th November, 2008

Published: Tuesday, 7th October, 2008 12:30

Road rage marine's ploy to save licence

By Court Reporter

But officer refuses squaddie's 'don't ban me' plea

A MARINE who “lost the plot” whilst driving — hurling abuse at a female motorist — tried to con a sheriff into letting him keep his licence.

Married dad-of-one Chad Blackman appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Thursday to be sentenced for a “nasty” road rage incident.

The court heard how he tried to intimidate his female victim with his erratic driving whilst shouting abuse at her through the car window.

Faced with the prospect of being banned from the roads the 25-year-old from Alexandria claimed that it was essential for him to have a licence to carry out his operational duties at Faslane Naval Base.

Mr McGuire, defending, told the court: “He needs his licence for operational duties and I would ask the court to deal with this by way of a monetary penalty.”

But after Sheriff William Dunlop asked the Royal Marine officer, who was accompanying Blackman in court, if he would back up the claim, the plan was foiled.

Warrant Officer Kennedy said: “[Blackman] is working in Faslane driving the vehicles but if he loses his licence it is a loss to him not to the Royal Marines.

“It is not essential for him to have his licence to carry out his duties.”

Blackman — whose wife is pregnant with their second child — was found guilty of driving his car close behind his victim’s vehicle on Great Western Road, Clydebank, on April 30, this year. He then drove alongside the car and shouted through the windows before deliberately driving from the outside lane into the inside lane in front of the victim with the intention of intimidating her, before coming to a sudden halt for no reason, causing the victim to perform an emergency stop.

Sentencing, Sheriff William Dunlop told Blackman: “This was a very bad case of road rage and bullying of a car containing a number of women.

“It was a nasty incident — you lost control.

“The High Court has repeatedly said that people who drive in this bullying manner do not deserve to hold a licence.”

Blackman, of 35 Burns Street, Renton, was banned from driving for three months and fined £250 for the offence.

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