Banned Scots driver inhaling laughing gas balloons at wheel of Mercedes fled police at high speed

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A banned driver who inhaled laughing gas at the wheel of a Merc at a fast food drive-thru has been shown leniency by sheriff and and spared jail.

Thomas Forrest breathed in the sedative from a balloon while driving through McDonald's in Raploch, Stirling. Forrest, 24, then drove the one-year-old blue Mercedes C-class along nearby Drip Road “at such speed that it left the ground” going over a speedbump.

The incident occurred around 7.30pm on December 16th 2023. Stirling Sheriff Court was told that witnesses in a car behind Forrest's called police.

The court heard the first thing they noticed was Forrest making “unusual” halts in the lane leading to the drive through. Prosecutor Christa Lindsay said: “The witnesses repeatedly heard gas being released from a pressurised canister, and a McDonald's worker observed the accused continuously consuming nitrous oxide from an inflated balloon.” Join the Daily Record's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. When Forrest saw that police had arrived, he accelerated away from them, reaching speeds of approximately 50 miles an hour on a stretch of Drip Road subject to traffic calming measures and a 20 limit, all four wheels leaving the ground at one point as the Merc hit a speed bump.