Motorcyclist jailed for speeding

A motorcyclist was jailed for nine months yesterday after clocking 166mph, the fastest speed recorded on a Scottish road.

Neil Purves, 27, a hairdresser, was also banned from driving for five years after being caught on the A702 near West Linton, Peeblesshire, this year.

The court was told that Purves, who has since sold his Suzuki GSX-R 1000 motorcycle, covered 0.7 of a mile in 16 seconds. Police carrying out speed checks stopped Purves after they were alerted by the high-pitched whine of the motorcycle engine.

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Purves, from Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, who works in Edinburgh, had admitted a charge of dangerous driving. He was accompanied in court by his parents and bowed his head when the sentence was read out.

Graham Walker, for the defence, said that his client’s speed was appalling but that he was of good character, remorseful and was normally a mature and reasonable young man who had been “seduced” by speed. He said it was clear that no other vehicles were using the road at the time and there were no cars parked near by.

“I think it’s fair to say the level of risk that the public were subjected to was very low but there was considerable danger to the accused himself,” Mr Walker said. He said that Purves’s parents had been supportive, but he added: “They have also been extremely angry about the risk that he took.”

Mr Walker said that his client posed a low risk of reoffending. “It’s fair to say that superbikes or motorbikes of this kind may have a seductive speed appeal and I think it’s also fair to say that Mr Purves was seduced by that element of speed on a long, quiet, straight stretch of road,” he said.

Sheriff John Horsburgh told Purves: “The speed at which you were driving this motorcycle makes a custodial sentence the only appropriate one.”

The court was told that Purves was clocked on a stretch of road between West Linton and Dolphinton last May at around 7.25pm. When police caught up with him their equipment recorded that he had reached 166.15mph (267.4km/h), the court was told. Sheriff Horsburgh reduced Purves’s sentence from a starting point of 12 months on account of his guilty plea.