A KINCARDINE man led police on a 120-mile per hour pursuit as he tried to get to a car dealership before closing time.

Gordon Haylott, 53, was tailed by plain-clothes police in an unmarked car after he passed them at more than 100 miles an hour on the M9 south of Stirling.

But his bid to get to the Audi garage before it shut was “ultimately pointless”, because he was delayed by being cautioned and charged on the forecourt, a court heard yesterday.

Fiscal depute Lindsey Brooks said that the police driver had to pull into the slow lane on the M9 after noticing Haylott’s 2006 silver Porsche Cayman S approaching from behind.

She said: “The police were aware by the rate at which the accused was coming towards them that he was travelling at a high speed.”

Another car also had to pull in to let him past as he sped off.

Mrs Brooks said: “The police made off after the accused, and their vehicle reached speeds of 120 miles an hour keeping his vehicle in view.”

The prosecutor said it was accepted that there was “an element of catch-up” in the speed reached by the police car.

Haylott then turned into Stirling, travelling at over 60 in a 40 miles-an-hour limit on the A905 leading to the city centre.

The court heard he was travelling very close to cars in front, “weaving in an out, looking for an opportunity to overtake”.

Police only caught up with him when he pulled into the forecourt of the Audi dealership.

Mrs Brooks said: “He offered no reason for his driving other than that he was trying to get to the Audi garage before 5pm.

“He said he and his female passenger were wanting to view a car before it closed.”

The depute fiscal added that Haylott had a female in his passenger seat at the time of the incident, which occurred on April 8 this year.

Haylott, a field service engineer, of Keith Street, pleaded guilty to careless driving.

He had originally been charged with the more serious offence of dangerous driving, but the Crown accepted his plea to the lesser offence.

Solicitor-advocate Gordon Hay, defending, said his client was of “exemplary character”, and had no previous convictions or even so much as an endorsement on his licence before.

He said it had been “a moment of madness”.

He said: “He had a reason, but not of the sort that would give the court any sympathy for him in his plight.”

He added that at the time, the roads had been dry and the Saturday evening traffic “light”.

Sheriff James MacDonald fined Haylott £2,000 and banned him from driving for four months.

He told him the carelessness had been “at the upper end of the scale”, was sustained for several miles – and had been “ultimately pointless”.