A MAN who was involved a three-vehicle crash which left a woman trapped has been fined £450 - but has escaped a driving ban.
Andrew Fletcher, 29, who did not see the woman's Ford Fiesta as it waited to turn right at a junction, convinced District Judge John Foster that he would lose his job if he was disqualified from driving.
Julie Grant, prosecuting, told Barnsley Magistrates' Court that Fletcher's Citroen C4 ran into the back of the woman's car and pushed it into the path of a van. The van ended up in a verge in the collision at Middlecliffe.
"The driver of the Ford Fiesta was trapped. She was taken to hospital and suffered slight injuries including a cut to the back of her head and bruising," Mrs Grant said.
She added that Fletcher, of Manor Fields, Great Houghton, had a bruised leg and whiplash injuries and the driver had back pain and minor injuries.
Fletcher, who was not represented by a solicitor, said he had worked in the care home industry since leaving school in 2001.
He said he needed a car because he was sometimes called to his care home for dementia sufferers in Sheffield to deal with an emergency.
It was a condition of employment that he had a car and would lose his job if he was banned from driving.
Fletcher said about the crash: "I was going home after dropping a friend's son off at school. All I recall is a bang, the car filling with smoke and someone dragging me out and saying the car was on fire."
Mr Foster, who said Fletcher had made 'a serious misjudgement', ordered him to pay £85 in costs and a £45 victim surcharge.
Fletcher admitted driving without due care and attention.
