Last updated 14:16, Tuesday, 22 July 2008

A TRAINEE hairdresser fears he may have to give up his chosen career after a taxi driver knocked him off his moped.

• View more pictures...

SCARRED: Andy Hamilton from Dalton, still recovering from the accident when he was knocked off his moped by a taxi driver MILTON HAWORTH REF: 0440538

The driver of the taxi, 64-year-old James Hunter, pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention at Furness Magistrates’ Court last week. He was banned from driving for six months.

Afterwards Mr Hamilton said he believed the ban was inadequate. He said: “I can’t eat because of my jaw, I can’t even pick up a cup of tea – the way he was driving was very dangerous and to me it doesn’t seem a sufficient punishment.”

Mr Hamilton, of Dalton Fields Lane, Dalton, said he had been training to be a hairdresser, but now fears his injuries have left him unable to fulfil his dream.

He said: “It’s damaged my career, I can’t even pick up a hairdryer anymore.”

The court heard that two of Hunter’s passengers were officers from Haverigg Prison.

One of the officers later told police: “He turned directly in the path of the moped.”

Defending Hunter, Ms Karen Templeton told the court he needed his licence for his job.

She said: “He has been driving for 40 years and this is the first time he has ever had a collision.”

As Hunter, of Cocken Crescent in Barrow , already had six penalty points on his licence, Ms Templeton claimed exceptional hardship against him losing his licence. She told the court his 66-year-old wife, who has had two knee replacements, relies on her husband to drive her around, and said: “He would find other employment difficult and his wife can’t get out and about without him.”

But magistrates gave Hunter eight penalty points, resulting in his licence being revoked for six months. He was also ordered to pay a £400 fine, £35 costs and a victim surcharge of £15.

Mr Hamilton’s bike, which cost him £800, has since been written off by the accident, but he has only received £500 from the insurance company.

Talking to the Evening Mail, Mr Hamilton said: “I thought I was dead, even the police said they thought I was a goner – when I had the moped it only cost me £5 a week to run and now I have to get buses everywhere.

“I’m lucky to be alive, what would have happened to him if I’d died?”