A DANGEROUS driver who caused a head-on collision on a bridge on the outskirts of Gargrave has been banned from driving for 18 months.
Kurdish-speaking Twana Khoshnaw, from Leeds, will also have to complete 200 hours unpaid work and be subject to a year-long community order after being found guilty of dangerous driving at Skipton Magistrates Court last month.
Khoshnaw, 33, was driving his Volvo S40 out of Gargrave towards Skipton on the A65 at around 8.30pm on December 2 when he crossed a solid white line to overtake a lorry on Holme Bridge.
The road was wet at the time and it was dark. He collided with a Nissan Qashqai that was coming the other way, causing extensive damage to both cars, the lorry and the bridge. Fortunately, no one was injured in the collision.
Khoshnaw, with the help of a Kurdish interpreter, said at his trial he accepted his driving had been reckless, but it was not dangerous and that he would regret it for the rest of his life.
On Friday, following a pre-sentence report, in which magistrates considered sending him into custody, Khoshnaw was told at the end of his 18-month ban, he would be returned to a provisional licence holder and would have to take an extended driving test.
In mitigation, John Mewies said Khoshnaw was a family man with two children who on December 2 had helped out a friend by driving them to their job at a nursing home near Settle.
He said Khoshnaw was not familiar with the road and it was fortunate that no-one had been injured in what was a head-on collision.
Khoshnaw, who had been subject to an interim driving ban since the result of the trial last month, was no longer able to carry on his car washing business as it involved him collecting his client’s cars.
He said Khoshnaw, of Shakespeare Lawn, Burmantofts, would now be reliant on benefits.
Part of his 12-month community order will be to complete 30 days of rehabilitation activity. He will also have to pay costs of £200 and a £60 surcharge.