Pensioner given road ban

Robert Spencer failed to put his car in park or neutral when he got out to speak to someone at a holiday village.

His Honda Civic started to move so the pensioner jumped back in.

He tried to brake, but hit the accelerator instead and ploughed into a nurse crossing the road, who was flung on to the bonnet.

Spencer then hit a parked car and a kerb.

The nurse was thrown to the ground and he drove over the top of her. She became trapped under the car as the pensioner’s vehicle smashed into another parked car.

The nurse’s husband and other members of the public lifted the car off her.

She was taken to hospital by air ambulance and treated for multiple fractures in her back, neck, ribs and arm and deep cuts all around her body, plus a collapsed lung.

Spencer, a 79-year-old former company executive, of York Suite Ribby Hall, Ribby Road, Wrea Green, pleaded guilty to careless driving.

He was disqualified from driving until he retook and passed a driving test and fined £535 with £85 costs plus £53 victims’ surcharge by Blackpool magistrates.

Presiding magistrate, Clifford Boynton, told him: “The injuries caused to the lady were severe.

“It must have been 
horrendous.”

Martine Connah, prosecuting, said the accident took place on October 8, at about 2pm, as the woman crossed the road at Ribby Hall Leisure Village, Wrea Green.

The nurse was using a crutch as she was recovering from a knee operation.

The prosecutor said: “The injuries have had a life-changing effect.”

Hugh Pond, defending, said his client, who was of previous unblemished character, had been driving for more than 60 years since he was 17 and had only one offence of speeding at 39mph in 30mph zone on his driving record.

Mr Pond added: “He saw his car move. He panicked, got back in and tried to brake, but his foot slipped on to the accelerator.

“He was distraught and apologised at the scene. The injuries were horrendous and he has worried about that since this horrific accident.”

Spencer had been passed fit to drive by a doctor and an optician before the accident.