A 42-year-old woman has been fined £300 for careless driving after crashing her car into a wall in Port Erin.

Elizabeth Josephine Barton already had 10 points on her licence and was given four more by magistrates for the latest offence.

However, in court she argued that a disqualification would cause her exceptional hardship and magistrates agreed to spare her from a driving ban.

Prosecuting advocate Barry Swain told the court that Barton was driving a Toyota Starlet on the Castletown Road in Port Erin on September 14 at 10am.

As she approached the junction with Milner Park she lost control of the vehicle and hit a wall.

She was interviewed by police on September 15 and said she had been driving a loan car, as her own car was in a garage for repairs, so she was not used to the vehicle she was driving.

Barton said she had braked and the car had spun so she had panicked and let go of the wheel.

She said that she was pregnant at the time so she was trying to protect herself.

Barton, who lives at Cronk View Crescent in Port Erin, initially pleaded not guilty to careless driving but on Thursday (February 17), when a pre-trial review was due to take place, she changed her plea to guilty.

Defence advocate Kate Alexander said that her client accepted the prosecution facts and that it had been a ’low speed error of judgement collision’ with no-one else involved.

Ms Alexander said that the wall had since been repaired and paid for by insurers so there had been no loss to the owner.

The advocate said that Barton had since had her baby and the child had a lot of health issues, which required her to drive to medical appointments as her partner does not drive.

Ms Alexander asked for credit to be given for her client’s co-operation at the scene and in police interview.

She said that Barton had received dashcam footage from another driver showing the accident and had passed this on to the police.

Barton gave evidence of this under oath as Ms Alexander submitted that a disqualification would cause her exceptional hardship.

Magistrates agreed to spare her a ban under the exceptional hardship argument, but 14 points will now be on her licence.

She was also ordered to pay £100 prosecution costs, which she will pay, along with the fine, at a rate of £10 per week, deducted from benefits.