Taxi driver who ran over woman collapsed on road after falling ill fined

A taxi driver who ran over a mum who collapsed on the road after she fell ill has been fined £450.

John Paul Borland, 42, struck the woman, then 52, in Glasgow’s Toryglen on the night of March 6, 2022.

She was placed in a medically induced coma for six days as her condition was deemed “life-threatening”, having suffered a string of injuries, including 30 rib fractures, a collapsed lung and a spinal fracture.

Borland claimed that he did not see the woman lying on the road as he was distracted by a man waving at him.

Borland was found guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court of careless driving, having initially stood trial for dangerous driving.

Sheriff Paul Reid disqualified Borland from driving for six month on top of the fine handed out at Friday’s sentencing.

The court heard that the woman had been at her daughter’s home and left due to “feeling unwell.”

A joint minute of agreed evidence stated: “She was due to return home when she crossed Prospecthill Road.

“[She] collapsed and became unconscious, resulting in her laying across the road.

“She has no recollection of the collision and only recalls briefly waking up at the roadside and thereafter six days later in hospital.”

The woman was taken to hospital where her condition was being treated as “life-threatening.”

She was placed in a medically induced coma in the intensive care unit for six days before eventually being discharged on March 31, 2022.

She sustained 30 separate rib fractures, a pelvic fracture, a collapsed lung, blood in the lungs and a spinous process fracture.

She also suffered a fractured collarbone, right clavicle, left wrist and right arm as well as wounds to her liver, kidney and spleen.

The joint minute says: “[She] will be affected physically for the rest of her life and continues to suffer mobility issues and must attend hospital every two or three months for additional ongoing treatment for her injuries.”

In his evidence, the now-former private licenced taxi driver Borland told the court that he was starting his shift on the south side of the city on the night of the incident.

He stated that when he was driving, he saw a man waving at him in the distance from the side of the road.

Borland said: “As I got closer, I saw him waving and as I approached I saw him and that’s when I hit the woman on the road.”

Linzi McQuade, defending, asked her client why he thought that the man was waving at him.

Borland said: “I had no idea, I thought maybe it was someone that knew me or recognised my car.

“Immediately after the impact, I put the handbrake on and the first thing I did was run out of the car and a witness said that there was nothing I could have done then I asked for an ambulance to be called.”

Miss McQuade asked before the “distraction” of the man waving if he saw the person on the road.

Borland replied: “I can’t say I saw the pedestrian on the road.”

Prosecutor Ross Canning asked Borland in cross-examination if he was blaming the waving man for the incident, and he replied: “I’m not blaming anyone.”

It was revealed that Borland, of the city’s Cathcart, has two previous road traffic convictions.