AN IMPATIENT pensioner has landed himself in court after he failed to wait on a refuse lorry moving out of the way and decided to drive on the pavement to overtake the vehicle.

Anthony Rodgers was behind the wheel of a white Suzuki and driving along South Grange Avenue in Prestonpans when he was stopped by the truck, which was in the middle of the road.

Rodgers said that he waited for “around 15 minutes” for the lorry to move out of the way but became impatient and mounted and drove along the pavement in January last year.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told that a man named Lewis Urban was subsequently forced to stand with his back against a garden hedge to avoid being struck by the OAP’s car as he made the manoeuvre.

Rodgers, 83, was traced by officers at his home at the town’s North Crescent a short time later after his details had been taken down and police alerted.

The court was told Rodgers admitted to being the driver of the vehicle at the time but told officers: “I can’t remember anything.”

Solicitor Nigel Bruce, representing Rodgers, told the court on Friday that the street was “a narrow roadway” and his client had been stuck behind the truck for “around 15 minutes” waiting for it to move.

He said that the “final straw” for Rodgers was when he saw one bin man standing in the street using his mobile phone and he made the decision to drive round the lorry by mounting the pavement.

He said that the car was only travelling at “one to two miles per hour” when it passed Mr Urban and Rodgers now “regrets” his decision.

Sheriff Christopher Dickson sentenced Rodgers to pay a fine of £320 and placed three penalty points on to his driving licence.

Rodgers pleaded guilty to an amended charge of driving a vehicle without due care and attention and mounting a pavement, causing Lewis Urban to stand with his back to a hedge to allow him to pass, at South Grange Avenue, Prestonpans, on January 26 last year.