A Cumbrian driver has been fined and banned from the road after she knocked down a dog walker who was left badly hurt.
Carlisle Magistrates’ Court heard 40-year-old Hannah Mary Armstrong should not have been behind the wheel when the collision occurred as she held a provisional licence but was travelling unsupervised.
It was around 3.40pm, on April 4 last year, when another driver stopped to let a woman — who was walking her daughter’s dog — cross a rural road near Warwick Bridge.
Video footage played in court showed that as she walked across, she was struck by a white Kia Sorrento driven by Armstrong, who was driving with two children in the vehicle.
“The next thing she could remember is being on the floor and people around her,” said prosecutor Diane Jackson. “She was still holding the dog at the time.”
The woman suffered broken tibia and fibula bones, and fractures to her ribs, ankle and humorous.
She was kept in hospital for more than a fortnight, underwent surgery and, a year on, remained unable to pursue hobbies which included golf and gardening.
Armstrong was also distressed in the aftermath and confided to officers at the scene that she held only a provisional licence.
She had not driven since and was genuinely remorseful, said her solicitor, for causing an isolated and regrettable incident.
She was charged with causing serious injury by careless driving.
Armstrong, of Fieldside, near Heads Nook — a woman with no previous convictions — was banned from driving for 18 months.
As part of a community order she must complete a 100-day night time curfew, and was fined £400.
