Serious accident driver may have been asleep at wheel

While driving after a night shift a 52-year-old may have fallen asleep at the wheel and caused an accident, Craigavon Magistrates Court heard last Friday.

And the female driver of the other car was left with injuries where her recovery time it expected to be a year.

Thomas Holywood, Laurelvale Road, Tandragee, admitted causing grievous bodily injury by driving without due care and attention on July 1 last year.

The court heard that at 8.30am a road traffic collision took place on the Northway in Portadown.

Persons trapped in the vehicles had to be cut out by the fire service and taken to Craigavon Area Hospital.

The injured party was travelling towards Craigavon when the defendant’s vehicle going to Portadown crossed the white line.

The victim received a fracture to her right femur and her recovery from her injuries was expected to take a year.

Holywood confirmed he had been working in Dundonald and had been returning home.

A barrister representing the defendant said this injured party’s mother worked with Holywood’s wife and he had gone to school with her father.

He added that he had been working that night on a shift as a joiner and cannot recall what happened.

The inference was that he fell asleep at the wheel.

District Judge, Mrs Bernie Kelly, adjourned the case until March 22 to get a pre-sentence report.

She also imposed an interim driving ban.

The length of the disqualification will be decided at the next court hearing.