A DRIVER who knocked a woman off her bike in Warminster, which caused bleeding to the brain, was fined £220 at North West Wiltshire Magistrates’ Court.

Joshua William Knapton, of St John’s Street, Bridlington, Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to driving in a public place without due care and attention when he knocked the cyclist, Yasmin Bell, unconscious on January 29.

Prosecutor Michelle Hewitt told the court how the 24-year-old failed to give way at the junction of Fairbank Street going into Imber Road at approximately 7.10am.

She added that Ms Bell, who also suffered various fractures around her right eye socket and cheek bone, was wearing a fluorescent tabard and front and back lights, but that Knapton did not see her.

In Ms Bell’s testimony she said she saw the car was quite close to her and thought to herself, as she went by it, that, “That was close”. The next thing she remembered was waking up in an ambulance.

Ms Bell also said how her life had changed forever and her confidence had been shattered and is scared to ever get back on a bike again.

Knapton told the court: “I feel she is as guilty as I am. I feel it is a 50/50. I do not agree with what she was wearing.

“I stopped at the junction, checked both ways. It was very dark. She had a tabard on but she had a rucksack over it and the front bit was not done up.

“The front light was the size of a 20p. I do not feel she took the correct safety measures to be on the road.”

Magistrate Nicholas Stephens, however, fined Knapton, ordered him to pay £85 in court costs, a victim surcharge of £20 and endorsed his driving licence with five penalty points.