Motorist in smash handed ban
A Mid Wales man has escaped a jail sentence for dangerous driving after a head-on crash which left a woman in a wheelchair.
Brian James Chaplin, 25 of Mount Pleasant, Welshpool, admitted the offence when he appeared at Mold Crown Court yesterday.
He was ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work and was banned from driving for three years. He must also re-take his driving test.
The court heard 57-year-old Michelle Willingham, had been driving along the B4394 between Llandrinio and Crew Green. Emerging from a dip, she was confronted by a car on her side of the road.
Chaplin, in a silver MG Rover, had ignored a solid centre white line and a warning sign about a blind dip in the road.
"You ignored a hazard warning sign and drove a hard white line in to her path. The collision was inevitable, as were the consequences," Judge John Rogers QC told him.
The judge said he had taken into account Chaplin's guilty plea and that he had no previous driving convictions.
Mr Brett Williamson, prosecuting, said Mrs Willingham suffered a fractured right ankle and foot, three fractured ribs, leg fractures, a cracked sternum and a fractured left foot.
Defending, Mr John Oates, said his client had believed the solid white line had not started but accepted that he should not have pulled out to overtake, assuming it was clear, simply because he could not see anything approaching.
