Disqualified driver who drove van at cyclist and knocked him off bike in Inverness jailed

A disqualified driver who attacked a cyclist by driving a van at him has been jailed for four and a half years.

Ross Grant, 29, struck his victim with the vehicle, resulting in him falling to the ground during the assault in Greig Street, in Inverness.

Grant originally faced a charge of attempting to murder the man but the Crown accepted his guilty plea to attacking him to his injury and the danger of life on August 24 last year.

Grant was freed on bail at Inverness Sheriff Court in April last year with a condition imposed on him that he did not drive or attempt to drive.

On the same day as the attack on the cyclist, he also drove at two pedestrians at Lower Kessock Street, Inverness, forcing them to take evasive action to avoid being hit.

The assaults occurred during a spate of dangerous driving by Grant in the city on August 23 and 24 last year during which he drove at excessive speed, went on to the wrong side of the road, struck parked cars and failed to stop at red traffic lights.

Grant earlier admitted the assaults, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and without insurance and breaching bail, when he appeared at the High Court in Glasgow.

He pulled up behind his first victim and when the cyclist moved off he followed. Advocate depute Ali Murray said: “The van accelerated and swerved into the back of the bike causing a collision.”

The attack was captured on CCTV shown to the court. Mr Murray said: “[The victim] fell off his bike and struck the bonnet. He rolled off and fell onto the road. The van accelerated away as [the victim] lay on the ground.”

The victim managed to get to his feet and luckily only sustained a scraped knee.

A judge told Grant at the High Court in Edinburgh that he would have faced a sentence of six years imprisonment if he was convicted after trial, rather than pleading guilty to the offences.

Lord Clark told him: “Drug use appears to have substantially affected your behaviour.” He pointed out that Grant has a number of road traffic offences among his previous convictions and banned him from driving for five years.

Defence solicitor advocate Shahid Latif said that Grant, a prisoner in Inverness, was now drug free.

Mr Latif said Grant was remorseful and ashamed of his conduct and added: “He has also made it plain to me that when he is released from prison he does not intend to go back to the lifestyle he had been leading.”