A WOMAN who received horrific injuries in a car crash near Abbey Village was still receiving treatment more than three years later.

Blackburn magistrates heard that Jean Mercer had to be airlifted to hospital following the collision with a car driven by Russell Atkinson.

And the court was told it was the unsafe state of Atkinson's vehicle which caused the crash rather than the standard of his driving.

Atkinson, 39, of Briscoe Mews, Great Lever, Bolton, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving without insurance and without a test certificate. He was ordered to do 80 hours community punishment and pay £65 costs. He was also disqualified from driving for 12 months and until he passes an extended re-test.

Clare Fanning, prosecuting, said Mrs Mercer had to be cut from the wreckage of her car after the collision on Belmont Road in June 2001. Atkinson's car was found to have three bald tyres - on one of them the steel cord was showing - and the front brakes on one side were seized up.

Mrs Mercer was initially in hospital for 15 weeks after suffering broken ribs, two broken arms, her right leg was broken in three places and her right in two places and her pelvis was broken in three places.

She came out of hospital in October but was taken into Liverpool Hospital for limb reconstruction in 2002. She was there for eight weeks before being taken to another hospital for further treatment and then back to Liverpool for a bone graft.

She was allowed home in January 2003, when she was using crutches to get around, waiting for a hip replacement operation which was scheduled for October of last year.

Miss Fanning said that at the time of the crash Atkinson had his partner and their three children in the car and he accepted he had been doing 60 mph which was the speed limit on the road. The insurance and test certificate had expired just a week before the collision but the insurance company had honoured the claim made by Mrs Mercer.

Jane Potter, defending, said Atkinson was the first to admit it had been a horrendous accident.

"He, his family and Mrs Mercer were lucky to survive it," said Miss Potter. "It is important to stress that the allegation is based purely on the condition of the vehicle and not on my client's driving."