A FORMER Dunfermline sheriff-clerk who ran away from a road accident

was fined #150 and banned for six months at Dunfermline Sheriff Court

yesterday.

John McWhirter Hay, 49, of Couper Grove, Dunfermline, at present with

the Scottish Courts Administration, was found guilty of failing to stop

and report the accident.

A charge of driving carelessly in Dunfermline on March 26 and crashing

into a lampost was found not proven.

Hay, shortly to be sheriff-clerk at Kirkcaldy, told Sheriff Hamish

Stirling that he had hit the kerb and crashed into the lamppost during a

sneezing bout.

''I remember nothing until I awoke in a barn the following morning.''

Two schoolboys said they saw Hay running across some fields after the

accident.

When he admitted not having seen a doctor about his amnesia, depute

fiscal Frank Redman told Hay: ''Your amnesia story is a complete lie and

a tailor-made explanation to cover the fact that you ran away.''