Accident Claim for Man who Crashes Van
RUBBERNECKING at a parked car on the Heysham bypass drew a driver’s attention away from the road and he hit another vehicle on his side of the carriageway.
The van Gareth Fawcett, 28, of Carr Lane, Heysham was driving ended up down an embankment on its side.
He had taken his boss’s vehicle without permission and failed to stop and report the accident to police, walking away from the scene towards Heysham.
At Lancaster Magistrates court he pleaded guilty to taking a vehicle without consent and causing damage to another car, failing to stop after an accident, failing to report an accident, driving without a full licence, and having no insurance for the vehicle.
Prosecuting, Peter Bardsley said: “On September 6 Mr Wareing, the aggrieved, was driving his BMW from Heysham to Lancaster that day and noticed a green Yaris with its hazards on on the opposite side of the road and an elderly woman standing there, looking vulnerable.
“He stopped his car and put the hazards on and also put a warning triangle in the carriageway near the Yaris.
“The elderly woman was distressed and infirm and told him the clutch had gone.
“He rung a garage and they said they were on the way.
“He then noticed a blue Transit van heading towards them at around 80mph in a 50mph zone, with one person in the van looking at him and the broken down car.
“The next
thing there was a loud bang and the van had collided with the BMW, shunting it.
“The van went sliding down an embankment and as Mr Wareing was running across the road he rang the police.
“The van was on its side and the defendant jumped out of the window, swearing at Mr Wareing and blaming him for parking his car on the road.”
Magistrates ordered Fawcett to pay £250 compensation and £50 costs and handed down a community order with supervision for 12 months.
He was also disqualified from driving for 12 months. Defending, David Mainwaring said: “There had been difficulties with him seeing his children and he had been taking legal advice.
“Fawcett doesn’t accept he was speeding. As he was driving along the road his attention was drawn to an incident on the opposite side of the road.
“He looked away and clipped the BMW causing damage to that car and the van he was driving.”
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