Police driver says he “hit 122 mph” but target car pulled away

A police patrol car accelerated to 122 mph but was unable to keep up with a speeding motorist in Fife, a court has heard.

Two officers claimed a BMW kept pulling away from despite them hitting the top speed their vehicle could manage.

On trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court is Shahzad Aslam (44), of Dean Park Court, Kirkcaldy.

He denies that on 25th September 2015 on the M90 northbound between junctions two and three and the A92 eastbound, he drove a car dangerously and drove at speeds of up to 100mph in a 70mph speed restricted zone.

It is alleged he pulled over sharply from the offside lane into the nearside lane, into the path of a vehicle and then braked sharply to exit the M90, entered the overpass slip road for the A92 at excessive speed for the road conditions, which had advisory 50mph speed limit signs and braked sharply to avoid collision with vehicles entering the vehicles entering from the Halbeath slip road.

P.C. Stuart Gibson (36) told the court he was driving the police patrol at around 12.25am in wet conditions near Rosyth when he saw the car being driven by the accused.

He said he believed the car was being driven at excess speed through an area of roadworks with a 40mph limit.

P.C. Gibson said the car then accelerated sharply and he tried to carry out a tracking operation.

This is where a police car maintains a consistent distance behind another vehicle to see what speed it is travelling at.

However, this was not possible as the BMW driven by Aslam was pulling further away. “We were travelling at 122mph and that was as fast as our car could go,” said the officer.

He added that it was only when Aslam’s car had to brake because of other vehicles on the road that the police were able to catch up and he pulled over to a lay-by.

P.C. Andrew Siggers (49) was the passenger in the police patrol car. He said Aslam’s car had to brake to avoid cars coming on to the A92 from a slip road.

Both officers said they were not able to give the speed Aslam’s car was travelling at but that it was faster than their vehicle.

The trial was adjourned until 20th July.