A COUPLE suffered “catastrophic” and life changing injuries when they were involved in a head-on collision with a car that veered into their path.

A car driven by William Alfred Roy Williams on the A489, Cemmaes Road, Machynlleth, clipped the back car in a line of traffic and went into the path of a car being driven by dance teacher Jessica Hunt and her partner Joe Mann.

Miss Hunt was airlifted to hospital with a fracture to her neck and a broken femur. Her partner, Mr Mann, suffered internal bleeding, and had half of his large bowel removed.

Williams, 70, of Bron Y Gaer, Llanfyllin, admitted driving without due care and attention, without a licence or insurance and was sentenced at Welshpool Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

Helen Tench, prosecuting, said a vehicle travelling towards Cemmaes, near Machynlleth, on May 28, 2016, came to a stop to turn into a junction, giving precedence to oncoming traffic.

Two other vehicles stopped behind.

Williams, travelling in the same direction, on the way back from a day in Aberystwyth with his granddaughter, failed to stop and collided with the offside rear of the rearmost car, veering into the opposite carriageway and causing a head-on collision, said Mrs Tench.

After the crash Miss Hunt said she could not move her legs and saw a dent in her right thigh.

Miss Hunt began to panic, her vision changed and she could not see anything.

She was airlifted to Stoke Hospital and underwent an operation on her broken femur and was told her recovery would be between six and 12 months.

She struggled to come to terms with what had happened, suffered from flashbacks and panic attacks and panics when she hears sirens.

She had to cancel work as a dance teacher and said she may never return to her profession, added Mrs Tench

In September she underwent a further five hour operation to realign her leg and remove screws from a previous operation.

Mr Mann had pain to his abdomen after the accident and was also airlifted to hospital, with internal bleeding and a compressed fracture to his spine.

This caused him to have half his large bowel removed and he subsequently had to return to hospital for six days with a life threatening infection.

Mr Mann described himself as being “angry and frustrated” following the crash and said it had had a long term impact on himself, adding he could have lost his partner.

He had returned to his profession as a freelance acting and music teacher, but had yet to take on any acting roles since the crash, said Mrs Tench.

Adrian Roberts, for Williams, described his client as a family man, who had driven more than 100,000 miles in his former job as an HGV driver.

He had insurance, but it was voided by the company because Williams had not renewed his licence in January when he turned 70.

Mr Roberts added his client looked after his 12-year-old granddaughter, and cared for her as a father.

They were returning home, travelling at between 30 to 40mph, and Williams said it was difficult to explain what happened as it happened so fast. He said he clipped the vehicle on his left and went into the opposite carriageway.

Mr Williams suffered a shattered ankle from the incident, was in a wheelchair for six months and had not driven since.

Mr Roberts said the couple involved had suffered catastrophic injuries. He added his client too had to live with it, he felt very sorry for the couple and felt for what he had done.

Mr Roberts urged magistrates to consider not putting a disqualification in place, as Williams had to transport his granddaughter around so a ban would cause problems for the family.

However magistrates banned him from driving for six months and fined him £120 for driving without due care and attention. He was ordered to pay £300 compensation to the couple, with any other claims coming from the motor insurance bureau.

Williams was also ordered to pay £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge. Magistrates told the court they had limited powers and the sentence in no way reflected the seriousness of the injuries suffered.