A professional driver was told by a sheriff yesterday that being responsible for the death of another motorist was the biggest price he would pay .

Sheriff John Wheatley told John Grooby he would have to live with the memory of what he had done.

Grooby, 51, from Edinburgh, wept as a jury at Perth Sheriff Court took just 15 minutes to clear him of causing death by dangerous driving. He was found guilty of a reduced charge of careless driving.

Sheriff Wheatley said he was imposing a token sentence of a 30-day ban and a #250 fine, adding that the law did not permit him to take account of the fact his driving led to someone's death.

The court had heard how Elizabeth MacDonald died after her car smashed into the Brinks Security lorry Grooby had allowed to jut partly on to a dual carraigeway.

He was parked on the central reservation of the A90 Perth-Dundee road, waiting to turn right.

Witnesses said they saw the rear of the lorry sticking five feet out into the fast lane of the dual carriageway.

The court heard how Ms MacDonald, 37, Balmullo, Fife tried to swerve round the lorry on the busy road. But she failed to avoid the lorry and died as a result of crashing into it at high speed.

Kenneth Smith, 55, said he was driving towards Dundee when he saw the crash at Errol junction on January 15. He said he saw a car and the lorry together in the small central reservation, and part of the lorry was sticking out on to the fast lane.

Depute-fiscal Jane Benson asked how far out it was sticking and Mr Smith replied: ''About four or five feet.''

The court heard that Ms MacDonald's car was seen swerving to the left side of the lane shortly before impact. When it hit the lorry it veered across the dual carriageway and burst into flames.