I just saw this on the BBC website. It’s one of the saddest stories I’ve ever read.
Harold Milner, 79, passed his driving test in October 2017. He’d done it because his wife, who had always driven, was terminally ill with bone cancer and was unable to continue doing so, and he needed to be able to take her to and from the hospital.
Less than three weeks after passing his test, he mistook the accelerator for the brake and hit 70-year old Irene Moore, who was crossing the road while shopping in Hull. She died in hospital three days later.
A policeman called to the scene, PC Bryan Moore, saw Mrs Moore as she was being treated at the scene with the breathing bag over her face. He didn’t realise until he heard her name mentioned later on police radio that it was his own mother.
PC Moore said at trial that he bore no ill-feeling towards Mr Milner and didn’t want to see him put in prison.
Maybe for once the judge got it right when he described it as:
…a tragedy for all concerned. It is a truly remarkable and unique case.
Mr Milner was given a four-month suspended sentence. He has since surrendered his licence and has no intention of driving again.