A motorist involved in a road accident in which a 75-year-old pedestrian died has won an appeal against a one-year driving ban.

Gary Jennings, 34, of Leafield Avenue, Eccleshill, was fined £1,000 and banned from driving for a year after he admitted an offence of careless driving in June.

The charge related to an accident on December 21 last year when Alois Copinshek was struck by Jennings' Rover car as he crossed Smith Lane on his way home from a launderette with his wife and son.

A judge and two magistrates sitting at Bradford Crown Court yesterday heard that the accident took place at about 4pm when it was dark and had been snowing.

Another driver saw Mr Copinshek crossing the road but she described him as "a shadowy figure'' wearing dark clothing.

Prosecutor Stephen Uttley said that as she drove passed the pedestrian she became aware of Jennings' car coming in the opposite direction and her instant reaction was that neither the old man nor the driver had seen each other.

Mr Uttley said the crown's case had always been that the elderly man had got three-quarters of the way across the road and should have been seen by Jennings.

His barrister, Sam Faulks, argued yesterday that his client may only have had four or five seconds to see the man in the road. His degree of carelessness had not been great and that was the primary consideration in deciding the appropriate sentence.

The court heard the driving ban had had a considerable effect on Jennings' domestic and working life. Mr Faulks said he was divorced but looked after his children three days a week.

Judge Kerry Macgill said that without wishing to cause distress to Mr Copinshek's family or suggest it was a minor offence they had to look at the appellant's culpability.

He concluded that Jennings had been guilty of a "short period of inattention'' and his appeal should succeed to the extent that the fine and ban should both be halved.