A woman has branded as a “mockery” the punishment given to a 25-year-old man whose driving put her husband in hospital with a serious head injury.

Jeanette Gunning was in Court in Bingley to see Azeem Nazir, of Cark Road, Beechcliffe, Keighley, fined £100 and banned from driving for 12 months after pleading guilty to driving without due care and attention and using a car without insurance.

He admitted driving out of Spring Gardens Lane, Keighley, on to North Street, in September last year, and overtaking a car already waiting at the junction.

He ploughed head-on into a taxi driving towards Utley, injuring the driver and three passengers – Mrs Gunning, her husband, Raymond, 54, and her brother, John Turner, 52.

Mrs Gunning, 54, was trapped by her leg and suffered a broken cheekbone. She needed stitches to her head and left leg.

Her husband suffered a serious head injury and broken ribs and was in hospital for some time. Her brother and the taxi driver suffered minor injuries.

Mrs Gunning said: “I thought the sentence was a complete mockery. I was enraged.”

A spokesman for Keighley Magistrates’ Court said it was not policy to comment on judicial decisions. However, magistrates were following sentencing guidelines.

The Crown Prosecution Service declined to comment.

  • Read the full story in Monday's T&A