Vincent Mackay via SuppliedA driver who seriously injured three friends in a crash after he became “distracted” has been given a deferred sentence.
Ramneek Sandhu, 23, hit a bus that had stopped on Glasgow’s Cowcaddens on June 30, 2022.
Sandhu was behind the wheel of a BMW 116 when he collected four friends to go for dinner.
However, it was later decided that the recently qualified driver would go for a drive with them during the night.
“As he approached Cowcaddens Road, there was noise coming from the passengers in the car,” his lawyer Bethan Jones said.
“He asked them to keep the noise down as he felt distracted but the noise continued.
“In the moments leading up to the crash, he turned around and was not watching the road and where he was – asking them to keep the noise down.”
The charge says Sandhu, of Bearsden, drove at excessive speed and failed to maintain proper road observations.
Sandhu caused his vehicle to drift onto the adjacent carriageway at around 6am.
He did not see the bus, which was stopped at a red light.
Sandhu failed to stop his car and caused it to collide with the bus which had passengers inside.
Both vehicles were damaged, and the crash caused Sandhu’s vehicle to ignite.
Three of Sandhu’s four passengers were all seriously injured as a result.
One suffered a fractured pelvis, while another had a fractured right arm.
A third sustained an 18-centimetre wound across his forehead, a fractured rib and a broken vertebrae. He has been left scarred as a result of the surgery to his forehead.
The hearing was told that Sandhu was also injured. No passengers on the bus were hurt.
Sandhu pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to the single charge of causing serious injury to the three friends by careless driving.
It was revealed at sentencing that Sandhu picked up points for speeding shortly after the incident.
His lawyer said that Sandhu’s relationship with his friends is now over, and he is currently an engineering apprentice.
Sheriff Tom Hughes put Sandhu on a structured deferred sentence to see if “steps will be taken to turn his life around”.
The matter will recall again in April for a progress report.
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