Ford Transit van driver knocked down pensioner in her 80s on Leeds pedestrian crossing

James Flatres was behind the wheel of the Ford Transit when it clipped the leg of the woman as she made her way across Gillet Lane in Rothwell at around 3.15pm on March 8 last year.

The traffic lights were on red and the woman was permitted to cross, but Leeds Crown Court heard that she was halfway across when she felt a pain to her ankle as the vehicle clipped her. The van spun her around and she fell to the floor.

Prosecutor Carmel Pearson said the black van drove on, but was seen returning a short time later, with witnesses saying it slowed down near to where she was being tended to by members of the public. She suffered a fracture to her thigh bone and required the surgery to insert pins.

Self-employed Flatres, 38, admitted a charge of causing serious injury through careless driving.

Mitigating, Lee Hughes said that Flatres, of Springfield Court, Normanton, had gone through the lights on green, intending to go straight on, but found himself blocking the junction due to traffic ahead so made a quick decision to turn right and clipped the elderly lady.

He said he was on his way to the nearby Morrisons supermarket when it happened and was not aware, and was returning from the shop when he saw the woman on the floor surrounded by people.

Judge Simon Batiste said married father-of-three Flatres had driven in an “unsafe manner” but said: “I accept there’s genuine remorse, you were not driving in a dangerous way and this was a momentary lapse of concentration.”

He gave him a 12-month community order, 40 hours of unpaid work and a 12-month driving ban.