Brother-in-law of former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf fined £450 for crashing into cyclist at red light while driving uninsured car

The brother-in-law of former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf has been fined £450 for crashing into a cyclist after failing to stop at a red light while driving an uninsured car, leaving the rider with minor injuries.

Ramsay El-Nakla, a father of three from Dundee and brother of the wife of SNP politician Yousaf – who served as Scotland’s first minister between March 2023 and May 2024 and also as the country’s transport minister between 2016 and 2018 – was dropping his children off at school when he collided with 59-year-old cyclist James Clunie from behind at a set of traffic lights on Arbroath Road.

According to the motorist, he failed to notice the cyclist filtering past as they approached the lights because he was turning down his car radio. Clunie, who was stopped at the lights at the time of the crash, was thrown onto the bonnet of El-Nakla’s car before falling to the ground, sustaining a minor back injury.

At Dundee’s Justice of the Peace Court earlier this week, 37-year-old El-Nakla admitted to driving carelessly and failing to slow when approaching a red light, failing to keep a proper lookout, and colliding with a stationary cyclist.

The motorist also admitted driving a car without insurance, though an additional charge of driving without a valid MOT certificate was dropped.

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El-Nakla claimed in court that he had broken his mobile phone on holiday and was unaware that his insurance policy had been cancelled.

“In relation to having no insurance, he had gone to Ireland to visit family and had broken his phone, and did not receive messages about the direct debit failing,” Annika Jethwa, mitigating, told the court on Tuesday.

“He had had difficulties during the year and it was the policy of the company to cancel if there was a third payment failure. He has been driving since he was 19 and has never had insurance issues.”

Describing the crash itself, discal depute Ewan Chambers told the court: “The traffic lights were red so the complainer stopped. The accused failed to notice the complainer stopped at the junction.

“He has gone into the rear of the complainer’s pushbike, which caused the complainer to be thrown off the bike, landing on the bonnet of the car, before falling to the ground.

“The complainer sustained a small cut to a finger on his right hand and minor pain in his back. The accused remained at the scene for 20 minutes to assist and passed on his details. Police checks were carried out on the accused’s vehicle and showed it had no insurance.”

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Defending El-Nakla, Jethwa said: “He was driving along and there was a van in front of him. He was of the view the van was going to continue driving, but it braked quite suddenly in front of him.

“The bicycle has come along the inside. He has gone to turn down his radio and hadn’t noticed the bike coming up beside him. The bicycle had stopped between where the van stopped and where he stopped.

“He didn’t brake in time and he struck the bike. Fortunately, he was driving extremely slowly at the time because he was coming up to traffic lights and the injury was of a minor nature.

“He waited and gave help in whatever way he could. He had been on a school run at the time. Because he had no insurance there is a civil claim against him which will be resolved elsewhere.”

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Jethwa also argued that any punishment that would mean El-Nakla would lose his driving licence would “cause hardship” to the 37-year-old, who received £1,400 a month on universal credit and disability payments, and needed a car “to help with the family”.

Earlier this year, El-Nakla pleaded not guilty to extortion and Class A drug offences, after he was accused of intimidating a man and extorting money from him using threatening behaviour, as well as being linked to the supply of cocaine and heroin in Dundee.

“He has a record, but it is not the worst. This was the combination of a few factors at the time. There would be hardship caused to the family if he was disqualified,” Jethwa told the court this week.

Fining El-Nakla a total £450 for the crash, which he was ordered to pay off through monthly instalments of £40, justice of the peace William Morrison also imposed six penalty points on his driving licence.

“It is an unfortunate incident, but it is indicative of a period of inattention, a momentary lapse, and I accept that,” he said.

“Nevertheless, there was injury – albeit minor – and the cyclist ought to have been protected.”

This isn’t the first time, of course, that the relative of a high-profile Scot has been fined and handed penalty points for an incident involving a cyclist.

In December, we reported that Cheryl McGregor, the wife of former Scotland, Rangers, and Hull City goalkeeper Allan McGregor, was caught on camera by a cyclist who was initially close passed, before spotting the driver roll through a red light and then use her mobile phone behind the wheel.

Cyclist films close pass and phone use (credit: magnatom/YouTube)

In footage captured by the cyclist’s helmet camera, McGregor, driving a BMW with the personalised number plate ‘MCG1A’, can be seen overtaking close to the cyclist before driving through a red light at a later junction.

With the driver stopped in traffic, the cyclist waited for the lights to change and caught up with their vehicle, where he saw her using a mobile phone, the entire episode caught on camera.

However, the cyclist, David Brennan, told road.cc that it is “almost impossible to get road justice in Scotland” and accused the courts of “poor protection of vulnerable road users”, after he discovered in November that McGregor had accepted a deal which enabled her to plead guilty solely to using a mobile phone at the wheel.

She was then handed six penalty points and a £255 fine, a punishment Brennan described as “ludicrously lenient”.