Delivery van driver who killed dad-of-two in crash as he cycled to work jailed

A delivery van driver who killed a father of two in a crash as he cycled to work has been jailed for six years.

A judge told Philip Scott that it was “heartbreaking” to read of the impact of the death of Euan Thomson on his family following the crash.

Lady Hood said at the High Court in Edinburgh: “That was the morning their world fell apart.”

The judge said that Mr Thomson, 32, the father of two young sons, was a man who excelled at his work and in his sports, especially rugby.

She pointed out that Scott, 40, has 14 groups of previous convictions, nine of which involved road traffic offences, including using a mobile phone while driving.

The judge said: “Use of illicit substances has been a constant feature of your adult life.”

She said it was “very concerning” that Scott sought to minimise his record for road traffic offending, failing to see the escalating seriousness of the offences.

Scott, formerly of Largs, North Ayrshire, had denied causing the death of Mr Thomson by dangerous driving on August 10, 2022, on the A760 Largs to Kilbirnie road near Dalry.

But he was convicted of the crime by a jury following an earlier trial at the High Court in Kilmarnock.

He failed to maintain proper observations, distracted himself by looking at and reading paperwork while at the wheel, obscured his view of the road ahead and failed to observe Mr Thomson, who was cycling ahead of him.

In the ensuing collision, Mr Thomson was so seriously injured that he died, and his bike was damaged.

Lady Hood said that the jury accepted that Scott was not watching the road ahead because he was looking at paperwork.

She told him that given the nature and seriousness of the charge he was found guilty of, the only appropriate way of dealing with him was by the imposition of a custodial sentence.

Scott offered to plead guilty to a lesser charge involving careless driving but the Crown rejected the plea and he went to trial.

Advocate depute Graeme Jessop KC said: “The paperwork for his day’s deliveries were in his van and he read them as he drove.”

The prosecutor said that was the reason Scott failed to react to the presence of the cyclist ahead and that driving in that manner was “obviously dangerous”.

A witness told police that he thought the van driver was paying attention to a bit of paper and not the road.

Defence solicitor advocate Ross Yuill told the court Scott accepted and understood the inevitability of a jail sentence following his conviction.

He said that after the collision, Scott provided such assistance as he could and did not leave the scene.

Scott was banned from driving for 11 years and told that he would have to pass an extended test to get a licence again.