A PENSIONER hit out at a “travesty of justice” after a drink driver who knocked her down on a zebra crossing escaped with a fine.

Patricia Kemp, 71, said magistrates had doled out a “slap on the wrists” by fining 25-year-old Andrew Christopher Butcher just £185 and banning him from driving for 20 months.

He was more than twice the legal limit when he hit the pensioner in Scotland Road, Nelson, in February.

Miss Kemp, of Every Street, Nelson, was left with a fractured wrist, a broken nose, shattered teeth, a torn mouth and bruising.

She has revealed that she is still tormented by the smash, suffering flashbacks of the moment she was hit.

After the case at Burnley Magistrates Court, Butcher’s actions were condemned by road safety groups and Miss Kemp’s MP said she “could have been killed”.

The pensioner, who has lived in Nelson for 40 years, said: “I had been to pay for my papers and I was coming home again when I went to cross the zebra crossing.

“There was a white van and I thought he was stopping but then I realised he wasn’t and that was it.

“I was knocked to the ground and I could not move.”

An ambulance arrived and Miss Kemp spent eight days at the Royal Blackburn Hospital before being moved to Burnley General for a further week. Afterwards she also received community care while she recuperated.

Miss Kemp said she was “flabbergasted” after magistrates only fined and banned Butcher, a BT worker, who has since lost his job.

She added: “It is disgusting, a travesty of justice, but what can you do? I expected him to get a slap on the wrists but I expected more than that.

“He should have been jailed because he was lucky not to kill me.

“I still have flashbacks and I don’t like going anywhere near main roads anymore or even in cars when someone else is driving . It has affected my confidence.”

Burnley Magistrates were told that Butcher, of Rochdale Road, Todmorden, had 73 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath following the smash, which happened at around 11am. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

He admitted driving without due care and attention and drink driving but was fined £185 and banned for 20 months. He was also ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge.

Afterwards, Pendle MP Gordon Prentice said: “This is a shocking case because this woman could have been killed.

“I am astonished that the court was so lenient when someone was knocked over like this.

“Motoring offences should be treated very seriously and I think the Government is acting to increase penalties.

“However, it does not help to send out the message that you could get treated quite leniently.”

Cathy Keeler, from road safety charity Brake, added: “Anyone who has drunk alcohol the night before needs to be sure that they are safe to drive before they get behind the wheel the next day.

“Brake is calling on the justice system to get tough on ‘morning after’ drink drivers.”

And a Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety spokesman said: “This case shows the knock-on effects of drinking and the morning after.

“Making this bad judgement can lead to loss of job, money and above all could cost a life.”