AN 85-year-old careless driver who crashed into the back of another vehicle leaving a man with a broken vertebrae has been banned from the roads.

Representing himself at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court on September 29, pensioner James Pollock pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other people using the road following the accident on the A78 between West Kilbride and Largs.

Pollock admitted failing to keep a proper lookout and colliding with another vehicle at the junction of Kilrusken Road on November 17 last year.

The procurator fiscal depute told the hearing that the other driver was travelling northbound on the trunk road and slowed down as he approached the junction.

He then stopped to allow a police vehicle to pass him.

The fiscal depute said: "The accused collided with the back of his vehicle with so much force that his vehicle was forced off the road, across a verge and into a hedge on the nearside.

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"The accused's vehicle was in the lane with heavy front-end damage.

"The police vehicle stopped and closed off the road and emergency services attended the scene.

"The Fire and Rescue Service cut the side of the complainer's car to free him as he was complaining of back pain."

Pollock was seen to by ambulance staff and taken to Crosshouse Hospital, while the other driver was taken by air ambulance to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow with a broken vertebrae.

The court heard that the DVLA revoked Pollock's licence the day after the accident, on November 18.

The hearing was also told that Pollock's late wife was in the car and he was attending to her at the time of the crash when he failed to notice the car up ahead had stopped.

Sheriff Colin Bissett disqualified the Largs man from driving, or applying for his licence to be restored, for 12 months. He was also fined a total of £420.