A 47-year-old motorist has been fined £850 after crashing his car at the Verandah.

Darren Tony Hadley, of Brookhill Road, Ramsey, admitted careless driving and three counts of having defective tyres.

Magistrates also endorsed Hadley’s licence with nine penalty points.

Prosecutor Roger Kane told the court how police were called to a car crash at the Verandah on the A18 Mountain Road on November 10 at 9.17am.

Hadley’s vehicle was the only one involved and police found him sitting in his Hyundai which had front impact damage. He told police: ’I was just driving along overtaking. It just went on me. I hit the bank and came to rest there.’

The vehicle was taken to the test centre and one tyre was found to be devoid of tread with two others having low pressure.

A witness reported Hadley driving closely behind them in the lead up to the accident.

They said that they slowed down in the hope that Hadley would pass them but as he did overtake the witness said they had to slow even more to allow him to get past.

The witness said they saw the back of the Hyundai slide and spin around as it crashed.

When interviewed Hadley said he bought the car about a year earlier for £500. He said the tyres had been checked and were OK. Hadley said he travelled over the Mountain Road to work every day so he knew the road well and could not account for the manner of his driving described by the witness.

Defence advocate Kate Alexander said: ’We appreciate the fact there has been a road traffic collision is an aggravating feature. But there were no complaints about the standard of driving save the driving very close.’

Ms Alexander went on to say that the tyre pressure was 17psi and that Hadley had held a full licence for 32 years.

Chair of the magistrates Ken Faragher said: ’17psi is grossly under-inflated so there is absolutely no excuse for that.’