A YOUNG motorist has been fined £140 for a crash which left a pensioner suffering serious injuries and was the centrepoint of a residents’ campaign for traffic calming.

Eric Judson, then 79, was left critically ill after he suffered a punctured lung, a fractured pelvis and serious chest injuries after being struck by a van near his home in Colne last July.

Now the driver responsible – 25-year-old Jak Gouch, has appeared before Burnley magistrates and admitted driving without due care and attention.

Magistrates heard that Mr Judson had parked his Peugeot 306 opposite his home on Harrison Drive, as he considered it was a safe place to leave his car.

He is said to have got out and checked for oncoming vehicles before going to retrieve a bag from the rear seats.

Prosecutors told the magistrates’ court that he opened one of the back doors as Gouch’s van came down Harrison Drive towards the roundabout with Birtwistle Avenue.

Gouch failed to stop in time. And his van collided with the offside of the Peugeot 307.

Speaking days after the incident, Mr Judson’s wife, Sheila, described how she saw her husband thrown through the air.

She said: “It threw him about 10 yards up the road. The van hit the back of the car before it hit him.

”He’d been at the boot a few minutes before.

“If he’d still been there he would have died.”

The court heard that Mr Judson suffered a number of serious injuries.

And both cars were damaged as a result of the impact.

Alongside his fine, Gouch, of Bankfield Street, Colne, was given three penalty points. And the magistrates also ordered him to pay £150 court costs with a £20 victim surcharge.

Magistrates did not order compensation for the victim.

Because they felt that it was not appropriate due to insurance cover.

Councillors had warned previously about speeding traffic along Harrison Drive.

And after this incident campaigners called for more to be done to address traffic problems on the estate.

Earlier this year, £60,000 was secured for traffic calming measures.