A BANNED driver told jurors how he killed a woman in a head on smash after going at speeds of up to 140 mph.

Logan Knox, 20, described racing John Gribben from Whitletts roundabout, along the A77.

He told a court Gribben “flashed his lights and waved” which he took as him wanting to race before he “put his foot down”.

Knox said overtook a lorry and on approach to the upcoming Holmston roundabout braked and tried to undertake a transporter van.

Jurors at the High Court in Glasgow heard he clipped the bumper, lost control and collided into 59-year-old Joan Price’s car, on the other side of the road.

Knox, from Coylton, is serving a sentence after pleading guilty to causing Mrs Price’s death by driving dangerously on January 30, last year.

He gave evidence at the trial of 19-year-old Gribben, from Ayr, who faces the same charge, and to causing injury to Mrs Price’s passenger, Gillian Kay. Gribben is also accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice and another charge of dangerous driving, all denied.

Knox told the court he saw Gribben at Heathfield Industrial Estate that evening where he spoke to him then drove off in the direction of his house.

He said he got to the Whitletts roundabout and Gribben pulled up behind him. He recalled: “He was flashing his lights and waving at me.”

Knox said they moved off and Gribben was tailgating him.

Advocate depute Michael Meehan asked what he took that to mean and he replied: “Probably wanting a race.”

Asked how he reacted, Knox said: “Put my foot down.”

Knox said: “He was behind me for a while, I overtook a lorry, he got stuck behind the lorry.”

He said it was “his decision to engage in a race”.

The court heard Knox overtook the lorry, in the face of oncoming traffic, and continued along the A77 towards the Holmston roundabout and tried to undertake a van.

He said: “The van had gone in to the left hand lane then over to the right, I went to undertake him. I don’t know if I have been too close or he has tried to come back in to the left lane, I just remember clipping the back bumper of the van then losing control.”

Jurors heard he spun round the inside of the van and ended up in front of it, on the other side of the road where he crashed into and killed Mrs Price.

Knox fled the scene and said he “thought” he got in to Gribben’s car. The following day he went to hospital, with a bag, expecting to be arrested by the police.

After pleading guilty Knox gave a statement to police that he “doesn’t normally drive like this.”Knox accepted he was driving too fast on the national speed limit road and when asked to estimate his speed he said “probably about 140 at some point”.

During cross-examination by Gribben’s defence advocate Tony Lenehan, Knox said he was disqualified from driving at the point of the collision, having been already caught driving without having a licence.

The court heard Knox plead guilty awhile engaged in a race with another.Mr Lenehan suggested Knox was “making it easier on himself”. 

Knox said: “Probably didn’t want to accept the blame at the time.”

He asked: “As far as you are concerned, John Gribben’s Audi has nothing to do with anything, by the time you passed the lorry, is that right?”

Knox replied: “Maybe engaging in a race but the crash wasn’t his fault.”

The trial before judge Sean Murphy QC continues.