A WOMAN driver ended up in a six-foot ditch and her car was written off after another motorist ploughed into her head-on.

Burnley Magistrates heard how victim, nursery nurse Joanne Greenwood, suffered whiplash and bruises in the smash near Lomeshaye Industrial Estate in Nelson, on October 19, last year.

The other driver, car body shop owner Sean Anthony Curran, 37, had been overtaking a parked lorry which he claimed had started to move. Police found he had the tax from another vehicle on his car.

Curran, of May Street, Nelson, admitted fraudulent use of an excise licence and had been convicted of driving without due care and attention.

The defendant, who is deaf, had the case translated to him by a signer. He was fined £120, with £75 costs and given six penalty points. He had no previous convictions.

Elizabeth Reed, prosecuting, said Miss Greenwood saw the HGV parked on the opposite side of the road facing her and as she got level with it, a car "came from nowhere," in her direction and in her lane.

David Lawson, defending, said Curran had been driving since he was 17. He had been going about 25 mph when at some point the lorry started to move off when he was overtaking it.

He felt he couldn't brake and couldn't speed up as a collision was inevitable. He felt the safest course of action was to veer into the wagon to avoid a crash.