Driver jailed for A82 crash that killed motorbike passenger

A driver who killed a motorbike passenger after being distracted by a phone call from his wife has been jailed for three years.

Gavin Aitken, 49, ploughed into the motorbike on the A82 near Balloch, West Dunbartonshire, in August 2020.

Motorbike pillion passenger Liam Scott, 21, suffered a fatal head injury.

Aitken, a bus driver, had been driving a company Volkswagen Golf back to the firm's depot. He admitted causing death by dangerous driving.

Sentencing him at the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Young said: "You accept you were distracted by a voicemail message received on the mobile phone before the collision."

He said victim impact statements had set out "the enduring pain and loss" that has been suffered as a result of the incident.

Liam Scott, from Irvine, Ayrshire, was a passenger on the Suzuki bike driven by his 23-year-old friend Stewart McKenzie - who was seriously hurt in the collision.

Mr McKenzie had slowed to make a right turn near Auchenheglish Lodges when it was struck by the car being driven by Aitken.

Mr Scott suffered a fatal head injury after he was thrown into the windscreen of the car. He died at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

The judge said that Aitken had time to react to the situation but failed to do so.

He said the case was aggravated by the victims being vulnerable road users travelling on a motorbike.

Lord Young said: "You stopped at the scene of the accident and your wife called the emergency services."

The judge said that Aitken, a first offender, was assessed as "at the lowest risk of reoffending".

He said a background report on him suggested that a non-custodial sentence might be appropriate, but added that was not what he was going to do.

He also disqualified Aitken from driving for six-and-a-half years.

Aitken, from Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, had admitted causing the death of Mr Scott and serious injury to Mr McKenzie

Aitken had finished his shift with Garelochhead Coaches and was travelling in the VW Golf to return to the firm's depot. He stopped to meet his wife and she followed in a Vauxhall Corsa.

Advocate depute Louise Beattie said Aitken had received an incoming call from his wife which went to voicemail.

The prosecutor said: "Aitken accepts that he was distracted by the phone call.

"He became involved with the phone in the crucial seconds leading up to the approach to the junction," she said.

Defence counsel Ronnie Renucci KC said that Aitken was fully aware of the consequences of his actions, particularly on the family of Mr Scott.

He said: "He has shown genuine remorse throughout.

"I am instructed on his behalf to offer sincere apologies to the family of Mr Scott and indeed to the other complainer."