The driver of a lorry that overturned on the Forth Road Bridge in January, blocking it overnight, has been fined and banned from driving for two years.

Aleksander Niemiec, 55, was ordered to re-sit his driving and HGV tests and fined £1000.

Niemiec, from Macclesfield in Cheshire, appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Wednesday with a Polish interpreter.

He pled guilty to dangerous driving on January 11 this year by failing to comply with prominent road signs indicating that due to high winds the bridge was closed to high-sided vehicles.

Fiscal depute Peter Motion said the accident occurred around 2am, damaging 14 metres of the metal railing on the central carriageway.

Niemiec, he added, suffered injuries to his head and hands.

Solicitor Gordon Stewart, representing Niemiec, said his client had been in the UK for nine years and been driving for 35 years, mostly as a lorry driver.

He had a clean licence and no previous convictions but since the incident had lost his job and was now living on small savings.

The lawyer said: "He had noticed speed restrictions signs but did not notice that high-sided vehicles were banned."

He added: "He is fully aware of the severe impact this had."

Sheriff Kenneth Maciver QC told Niemiec: "This was a wilful disregard for the road signs. The consequences were considerable.

"The bridge was closed for a long time and it is a major artery for road traffic in Scotland.

"It caused major diversions for many hundreds, if not thousands of vehicles, and inconvenience because of your stupidity."

He added the cost of repairs to the bridge must have amounted to a large amount of money.

The sheriff said the minimum disqualification required by the law was 12 months.

He added: "In your case it will be doubled to two years and you are ordered to sit and pass the extended test to drive at the end of that period and also the HGV test".

Setting out the financial penalty, Mr Maciver said: "The very least I can consider in your case is £1000 and that is taking into account your financial situation and your plea of guilty at the first calling."

He ordered that £300 be paid within 14 days from Niemiec's savings with the remaining £700 at £50 a month to start from the end of April.