A court has heard how a couple in their 70s who had been married for almost 60 years were hit by a careless driver while on a cycling holiday in Scotland, the collision killing 74-year-old Patricia Marshall when a new driver who had only passed his test a month earlier lost control of his car on a bend while “driving too fast for the road”.

Aly Albosati admitted causing death by careless driving in relation to the incident in Angus in June 2023 and his lawyer told Dundee Sheriff Court “he feels he deserves to go to prison”. Last week, the 27-year-old was sentenced to a driving ban and community service, the judge ordering him to complete 180 hours of unpaid work and issuing a 20-month driving ban.

The Courier reported from court that Albosati will also be under supervision for 12 months. A student at the time of the collision, the sentencing hearing heard how Albosati had only passed his driving test a month earlier, but had also been fined £300 for a road traffic offence six months before the fatal crash, at a time when he was still a learner driver.

Patricia Marshall and her husband Reginald were on a cycling holiday in Scotland when they were hit on a clear, dry June afternoon. The couple were married for 57 years and had completed cycling trips across Britain and Europe, their family saying they are “heartbroken” by Mrs Marshall’s death.

Albosati’s lawyer accepted that his client was “driving too fast for the road”, even if he was legally within the speed limit. The new driver “misjudged” a right-hand bend, prosecutor Paula Wedlock telling the court he “mounted the verge” and lost control of his vehicle.

“He has applied excess bearing to the right,” she explained. “Excess steering caused his Ford Fiesta to rotate in a clockwise direction and cross the carriageway in a south-west direction. Whilst rotating and out of control, the front corner collided firstly with the bike ridden by Mr Marshall, then the bike ridden by the deceased, causing both to be knocked off.”

Mrs Marshall was airlifted to hospital in Dundee but died a few hours later, her husband also suffering “extensive bruising” in the collision on the B965 Friockheim to Inverkeilor road.

The judge Paul Ralph told the court the death “had a devastating effect” on the cyclists’ family. “She was 74 and had been happily married for 57 years at the time of her death,” Sheriff Paul Ralph said. “She was clearly a much-loved wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.”

Albosati’s lawyer insisted his client was “truly horrified and appalled his actions caused such a terrible outcome”. Despite telling the court of Albosati’s comment that “he deserves to go to prison”, the lawyer subsequently argued the 27-year-old could be punished with an alternative to custody. The court heard Albosati had dropped out of the University of Glasgow, citing mental health issues.

The sentencing hearing comes just two weeks after the government unveiled plans to consult on introducing a three or six-month minimum learning period for new drivers. The Department for Transport said it would “give learner drivers more time to develop their skills in varied conditions such as night driving, adverse weather, and heavy traffic”. Drivers aged 17-24 represent just six per cent of licence holders but are involved in 24 per cent of fatal and serious collisions.