Mansfield Woodhouse car crash man walked away after injuring a cyclist

Wojciech Smolen pleaded guilty to failing to stop after an accident, driving without due care and attention and driving without insurance, when he appeared before Mansfield Magistrates on Wednesday.

Smolen, 28 Was driving his Volvo on Station Road, Selston on 4th October at 8pm when he hit the bumper of a stationary BMW car.

The court was told the BMW then hit a cyclist on the pavement and knocked him off his bike.

Two other parked cars were also damaged due to the concertina effect of the collision.

The court heard Smolen walked away from the scene and had not contacted the police until the afternoon of the next day.

The cyclist who suffered heavy bruising and grazes to his knee and damage to his face, had to take two and a half weeks off work.

Smolen told police the weather had been rainy and he had lights coming towards him. He had braked and then he hit the BMW.

When he got out of his car he had seen the cyclist on the road speaking to someone on his mobile and thought he was OK.

Thee passenger in his own car was missing and Smolen was worried he might be injured so he had walked away from the crash to find him.

Smolen said he had become frightened when people who had seen the crash started to follow him and he had run away, eventually becoming lost in fields for two hours.

The court was told Smolen wrongly believed he had insured the car.

He was given a 12 month community order with 100 hours work requirement, fined £145 and given 10 penalty points on his driving license.