A SUICIDE-bid driver crashed into parents' cars and almost hit a lollipop lady outside a school.

Lee Slater, 36, then drove from Lowerhouse Junior School in Burnley to junction nine of the M65 where he parked up on the hard shoulder and attempted to throw himself in front of a lorry, only to be stopped by a passing motorist.

Slater narrowly avoided a jail sentence after pleading guilty at Burnley Crown Court to dangerous driving. He was given a 52-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, with two years' supervision and a two-year driving ban.

But the father-of-four apologised for his actions after the case saying that he was sorry for putting the parents and lollypop lady through the ordeal.

He said: "I want to tell everyone involved, from the bottom of my heart, how sorry I am for what I did. It must have been very frightening for them, and I want them to know that I have got the help that means I will never do anything like that again."

Mr Slater, a painter and decorator, had split up with his girlfriend earlier in the year, and said that this, coupled with problems at work and financial stress, had led him to try to commit suicide that day.

The court was told that he had left work in Whiteside Close, Padiham, driving his works van so erratically that he hit a lamp post and another car before setting off. He told a frightened colleague: "I am going to commit suicide."

He then drove on the wrong side of the road, clipping a BMW car, leaving the driver shaken and suffering backache.

Sylvia Dacre, prosecuting, said he then carried on down Burnley Road and Liverpool Road, Burnley, going partly on the kerb and narrowly missing a pedestrian.

He approached the school at about home-time, mounted the nearside kerb and smashed into a car waiting to pick up a child. That shunted the vehicle forward into another parked car.

Both vehicles were damaged, one driver suffered shock and shoulder injuries and the other, who had a heart problem, was very shaken and needed extra medical treatment because the incident had worsened his condition.

Miss Dacre said he continued driving so close to the kerb the lollipop lady had to step back so she wasn't hit and a number of pedestrians had to do the same.

She added: "Fortunately the children had not yet come out but they saw what happened and she heard them screaming as she moved back."

Slater carried on to the motorway, despite having two burst tyres, and tried to hurl himself in front of a lorry but was stopped by another motorist.

He was taken to hospital but absconded. He was arrested later that day, and detained in hospital under the mental health act for six days.

He relapsed just four weeks after the incident, attempting suicide on the motorway again, but has been working with mental health services and, with the aid of medication, is now recovering well.

Judge Beverley Lunt said it would be "hugely detrimental" to send him to prison now, and that probation officers had said he had a low risk of re-offending so long as he continued to take his medication and did not drink or smoke cannabis.

Mr Slater, who moved back in with his mother after the incident but has now moved to Dixon Close in Blackburn, appealed to others suffering from depression to get help before they deteriorate so badly they put others in danger.

He said: "I had a breakdown and it had been building for months. I had split up with my girlfriend and I was having problems at work but I don't want to blame my ex-girtfriend or my boss - things that aren't so bad on their own built up and I lost it.

"In the weeks beforehand I had been very down - anything sad on the TV would leave me in tears and I just couldn't keep it together.

"I had a sort of plan that I would commit suicide like that - I had been thinking about it for a long time.

"Being in hospital and talking to other people suffering the same problems helped me a lot, and I would never put other people in danger like that again and I know now how important it is to go to the doctor when you're feeling like that.

"I didn't mean to hit anyone at the school - I was so far out of reality that I couldn't even remember having done it until the police told me, and I felt awful when I understood what had happened."

He added that although he could not continue painting and decorating because he had lost his driving licence, he was looking forward to a "new year and a new start" and was seeking other jobs.

Road safety charity Brake said it was important for all drivers to ensure they did not get behind the wheel when unfit to drive through stress or depression.

A spokesman said: "This man's actual intention was to cause harm to himself and our message to everyone is to make sure you do not get behind the wheel when you are in such a state that you cannot focus on other people's safety, because at all times when driving, that should be at the forefront of your mind."

Lowerhouse Junior School headteacher Dominic Conti declined to comment on the case, but County Councillor Vali Patel, cabinet member for schools, said: "This was obviously a very serious incident which left staff and parents quite shaken. We are grateful that the consequences were not more serious and pleased that the young man involved has received the appropriate treatment and support."