A LEARNER driver who ploughed into a car with such force that a baby was thrown into the air over the top of her own vehicle has NOT been convicted of dangerous driving.

Crown Office chiefs decided that Mandy Young had merely been careless, despite also causing her car to strike ‘several’ pillars before it smashed through a wall above a row of bus stops — and also left an eight-year-old girl needing crutches. 

Greenock Sheriff Court heard how Young, 52 — who has never passed the driving test and was not insured for the car — had her foot ‘frozen’ to the accelerator of the vehicle as it veered out of control within the car park of the town’s B&M store.

She smashed into a parked car, causing it to roll forward and pin a mother and her eight-year-old daughter against a wooden pallet outside the shop — while the woman’s seven-month-old son was hurled skywards.

Procurator fiscal depute Pamela Brady said: “The accused entered her car and started the engine and, before she’d closed the door, drove forward.

“The witness was walking out of the store with her children, her eight-year-old daughter by her side and her seven-month-old son in a car seat on the trolley.

“She had no time to react and the other car struck her trolley and forced her and her daughter against a pallet.

“The seven-month-old in the car seat was thrown into the air over the top of the accused’s vehicle and landed face down.”

Mrs Brady added: “The accused’s car veered to the right, struck several pillars and went through a brick wall, coming to rest on the top of the wall.”

Sheriff Thomas Ward declared that he wondered why Young had been prosecuted only for driving without due care and attention and not at the more serious level of dangerous driving.

The senior lawman said: “She’s driving a car having never passed the test, has no insurance and causes this mayhem.” 

The court heard that the mother and daughter who had been pinned against a pallet outside the store sustained bruising and muscular pain to their legs. The baby miraculously sustained only grazing and bruising to his forehead.

Prosecutor Mrs Brady said: “The daughter required the use of crutches for some time afterwards.”

Defence lawyer Edel McGinty said: “Miss Young is well aware of the havoc she caused that day.”

Miss McGinty added: “Another person had left the car in gear and she put her foot on the accelerator rather than the brake.

“She gets a fright and instead of braking her foot froze on the accelerator.”

Young, who committed the offence on February 2 in 2015, had previously maintained that she was not guilty of anything during the long running case.

She has also had a string of warrants issued for her arrest after failing to turn up at court for a number of hearings on the matter.

Young has now finally pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention, mounting a pavement, striking a stationary vehicle, hitting a shopping trolley and injuring a woman, an eight-year-old girl and a seven-month-old baby.

Sheriff Thomas Ward deferred sentence for background reports and told Young: “You are very fortunate that you have not been convicted of dangerous driving.

“People like you are a menace.

“It’s clear to me that you could have killed someone. And that’s the problem.”

Young responded: “I understand.”

The sheriff told her: “You are now disqualified from driving right from this moment and you can expect to be disqualified for a substantial period of time when you come back here.”

Young, whose address was not given in court, is due to appear again on the matter on April 5.

The Crown Office today insisted that the decision to prosecute Young for driving without due care and attention was the correct one.

A spokesman said: “The decision as to the appropriate charge was made after careful consideration of the available facts and circumstances of the case, and the appropriate law, by an experienced prosecutor.”