Devon driver, 87, banned after injuring dancer

A pensioner has been banned from driving after causing "catastrophic" injuries to a keen tango dancer when her car hit him on a Dartmoor road.

Evelyn Cass hit Christopher Park, 65, after failing to see him when he was looking for a hub cap that had fallen off his car on the A382 near Chagford.

Cass, 87, of Broadpark, Okehampton, previously admitted careless driving.

She was fined £250 and banned from driving for three years by Judge Peter Johnson at Exeter Crown Court.

Cass has already surrendered her licence.

A more serious charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving was dropped.

Mr Park, an architect, was hit by Cass in April 2019.

The retired vet did not even know she had hit a person when she felt a bump from the collision, the court heard.

Cass thought she had hit a horse but, after stopping and going back to look, she found to her horror that it was a pedestrian.

Mr Park, who was previously a keen tango dancer, suffered serious head injuries which led to him spending 18 months in hospital and residential rehabilitation.

He needs 24-hour care at his home in Chagford, has to use a wheelchair, suffers from double vision and has issues with basic skills and memory.

In a victim statement read by his partner, Mr Park said he had lost the life which he had known and loved and that the only way he will ever dance again is in a hydro physio pool.

He said: "All the essence and the things that make me what I am and all the things I previously enjoyed are gone.

"I have lost my co-ordination, my freedom of movement, and my dignity."

Judge Peter Johnson said: "The word catastrophic is often over-used in society today, but the injuries you caused him were truly catastrophic and will affect his life materially for the foreseeable future.

"This is a very serious case of careless driving. It is imperative you do not drive again."

The judge explained that the level of fine is set by law and is calculated as a percentage of a defendant's income.

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