A HAWICK woman was spotted driving a car through the town with a flat tyre which resulted in sparks flying from the rim of the wheel and leaving gouge marks on the road. 

At one stage in Hawick’s Commercial Road, 31-year-old Danika Douglas lost control of the vehicle and it swerved onto the other side of the road causing another car to take evasive action to avoid a collision. 

When police caught up with Douglas in Stonefield Place, she was abusive to officers and was shouting and swearing at them. 

Depute fiscal Christine Allen told Selkirk Sheriff Court how a witness saw Douglas driving the vehicle from her home address at 1.30am on Thursday, October 12, and could hear a loud noise because of the flat tyre. 

She said the incident in Commercial Road happened at around 2.30am when another motorist saw sparks flying from the front offside wheel and had to pull into a bus stop to avoid a collision when Douglas’ vehicle went over to the other side of the road. 

Police were contacted and officers found gouge marks in the road and followed a trail until eventually tracing Douglas to Stonefield Place where she was using tools to change the wheel in the vehicle. 

She admitted to being the driver of the vehicle but became agitated when asked to carry out an alcohol test and ended up being abusive to officers. 

Douglas was initially charged with dangerous driving but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of careless driving. 

She was fined £300 with a £20 victim surcharge and had seven penalty points placed on her licence. 

As she is a new driver that took her over the penalty points limit and she was disqualified under the totting-up procedure and will need to re-sit her test. 

Douglas was fined another £200 for threatening and abusive behaviour towards police officers.