[Carruthers]

My recollection of the Aberdeen Press & Journal is that it was never in line for a Pulitzer Prize. Read on...

Tractor with a three-legged dog on board causes £120,000 worth of damage by smashing into a north-east house at 4am

A bungling farm worker caused more than £120,000 worth of damage after smashing into a sheltered housing complex.

Gregor Durno crashed the JCB tractor and then drove it home – leaving a trail of rubble behind him, taking police right to his door.

Durno had two friends – and a three-legged collie – in the tractor cab when he crashed into the building in Buckie on February 18 last year.

At Elgin Sheriff Court yesterday, the 31-year-old admitted a charge of dangerous driving.

Sheriff Gary Aitken told the father, who has a previous conviction for dangerous driving from 2007, it was only “good fortune” that nobody was killed in the terrifying incident.

Fiscal depute Alex Swain described the driver swerving into the opposing carriageway as he drove along the route at about 4am.

Durno continued to drive at “excessive speed” through Buckie before eventually losing control on Land Street and smashing into the building.

Locals reported hearing a “loud bang” while residents inside who were awoken by the impact reported seeing a “large wheel” inside their home.

Miss Swain said: “The wall to the bathroom of the property was completely destroyed and significant damage was also caused to the area around the front door.

“The impact was such that there was also damage to the rear of the building and the communal stairwell to the first floor had actually shifted.”

Durno’s two passengers fled the scene on foot before he drove home – leaving a one-mile trail of rubble and broken parts from the tractor for police to follow.

When officers arrived at the farm property they saw blood on the windscreen of the damaged JCB.

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