OAP driver denies causing teenager's death at petrol station
A pensioner has denied causing the death of a teenage girl by by reversing over her as she was filling her car up with petrol in Renfrewshire.
Alexander Wotherspoon, 83, appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court charged with causing the death of Eilish Herron by driving without due care and attention.
The 17-year-old was struck by Mr Wotherspoon's car at an Asda petrol station in Linwood in September 2014.
The charge says he had failed to keep control of the car while reversing.
Mr Wotherspoon, from Houston in Renfrewshire, uses a zimmer frame to help him walk.
He denied starting the engine of his car and reversing while the driver's door was still open, failing to keep control of the car and, while it was reversing, causing it to hit the Renault Clio Eilish was filling up with petrol.
The charge states that his actions knocked her to the ground, moved her car out of the way and caused his car to reverse over her, dragging her underneath the car, "causing her to be so severely injured that she died."
The incident happened at the Asda petrol station at the Phoenix Retail Park in Linwood on 10 September 2014.
Sheriff Susan Sinclair adjourned the case for a trial to take place in August and continued Wotherspoon's bail.
Speaking previously, Eilish's mother Shanneal, 47, said: "Eilish was a really good girl, a normal teenager who loved her life, loved her family and loved her sport.
"She was my best friend, we had such a good laugh.
"I can't put into words how much she's missed in our family. We are all very close."
Eilish was a keen netball player and played for Paisley Juniors as well as volunteering as a junior coach.
After her death, Netball Scotland created the The Eilish Herron Young Coach of the Year Award, which will continue as a yearly recognition award for young coaches.