Mansfield man fled after falling asleep at wheel and crashing into car

Residents on Rhodes Walk, Mansfield, heard a loud bang when Steven MacMillan hit the car in his Ford Focus, shunting it into another vehicle, on January 13, at about 10.55am.

Emma Cornell, prosecuting at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court, said witnesses saw him perform a U-turn and then drive off, leaving debris in the road.

Police traced his Focus and he later told officers he had been dropping off a friend after a night shift, when he fell asleep.

MacMillan, aged 31, of Littleover Avenue, Mansfield, admitted failing to stop and report an accident, and driving without due care and attention.

Andrew Bevan, mitigating, said MacMillan deserved full credit for his early guilty plea.

He said the self-employed fire-proofer had suffered from mental health issues after separating from his partner and was on medication at the time.

The court heard MacMillan broke his back while trying to take his own life.

Mr Bevan said: “He does hope to return to work quite soon.”

Sentencing, District Judge Jonathan Taaffe told MacMillan: “This is quite clearly an incident where you should not have been driving and, frankly, you're very fortunate not to be charged with dangerous driving.”

He fined him £400 and ordered him to pay £85 costs and a £40 surcharge, and gave him 28 days to pay.

He banned MacMillan from driving for six months.