A DUNBAR motorist who smashed his car into a lamppost after bragging to his terrified passengers he was doing 100mph in a 20mph zone has been banned from the road.

Hamish Thomson had been drinking in a local pub before he and four pals jumped into his motor and began speeding through the streets of his hometown in December 2018.

Thomson, 30, soon lost control of his vehicle and crashed into the back of car before smashing into a garden wall and a lamppost leaving all the occupants seriously injured.

He was left with “severe lacerations” to his face while one female passenger suffered a broken arm and the other two friends received severe whiplash injuries.

The high speed smash was said to have caused thousands of pounds of damage to the garden wall and the lamppost.

Thomson, James Court, admitted driving dangerously and at excessive speeds while under the influence of alcohol on December 15, 2018, when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in February.

He was due to be sentenced later that month but after leaving court he ended up assaulting a man in the capital’s city centre and was jailed for 16 months for the attack.

Thomson subsequently appeared for sentencing on the driving offence via video link from Saughton Prison at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday (Wednesday).

Defence solicitor Angela Craig told the court her client had been due for early release in June but due to the outstanding motoring sentencing he was kept in custody.

Ms Craig said the father-of-one had been fully insured at the time of the crash and had ultimately spent time in custody for the driving charge due to being refused early release.

Sheriff Donald Corke described the offence as “a serious matter that could have attracted a custodial sentence” and sentenced Thomson to a two year supervision order and banned him from driving for three years.

The sheriff also ordered Thomson to resit the extended driving test before he is allowed to get his licence back.

Previously prosecutor Rosie Cook told the court Thomson had been drinking alcohol in a local pub when he and four friends got into his Vauxhall Astra and sped off at about 6.20pm on December 15, 2018.

Witnesses claimed they believed Thomson to be driving at around 50mph through the town but he was later heard by his friends to be speeding at up to 100mph.

Ms Cook said female passengers within Thomson’s car soon became scared of his erratic driving before he lost control of the Astra and collided with a car driven by Jade Sheerin.

He clipped the back end of Ms Sheerin’s motor causing it to spin round and then collide with a parked car.

His vehicle then left the road and smashed into a garden wall and a street lamp causing about £4,000 worth of damage.

Solicitor Angela Craig said her client still had his own tenancy at the town’s James Court open to him when he is released from prison.

Thomson admitted to driving dangerously and at excessive speeds while under the influence of alcohol, colliding with a vehicle, a wall and a lamppost causing injury to passengers at Dunbar, East Lothian, on December 15, 2018.

He also had not guilty pleas accepted by the Crown to failing to stop and give his details to police, driving with no MOT and failing to give a blood sample to police at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.