A pensioner, who crashed into a police car as it responded to an emergency call, failed to hear its sirens because he was not wearing his hearing-aid.

Haverfordwest magistrates had ‘absolutely no hesitation’ in finding Michael O’Sullivan, 68, guilty of driving without due care and attention following a trial on Monday, October 8.

The court viewed CCTV footage of O’Sullivan, of Myrtle Meadows, Steynton, turning right out of Marble Hall Road junction, Milford Haven, into the path of a police car which was travelling along Great North Road on March 12.

The police vehicle, which was travelling with blue lights flashing and sirens wailing, swerved and mounted the pavement in an attempt to avoid a collision with O’Sullivan’s Peugeot.

A pedestrian had to take evasive action and both vehicles were damaged. The police driver, who managed to pull back onto the road in front of the Peugeot to bring it to a halt, sustained a slight injury to his back.

O’Sullivan, who represented himself, denied the offence, claiming the police car was travelling at high speed before the impact and the roads were wet on the morning in question.

He said: “I was not aware of the police car coming down from my right.

“I just did not see him until the very last moment. As soon as I saw him I applied my brakes, but it was too late to avoid the accident.

“The accident happened purely because PC Evans, in my opinion, was going way too fast as he was coming down the road.”

O’Sullivan added that he had been unable to wear his hearing-aid on the morning in question and probably had his radio at a louder volume as a result, which meant he had not heard the police siren.

“Before I knew it he was on top of me.”

Experienced police driver PC Evans told the court he was responding to a report of a traffic collision in Milford Haven, which had been graded as an ‘immediate call’, which is the highest level.

“A vehicle pulled out of the junction directly into my path. The vehicle made contact with my off-side. The vehicle just kept moving, it only stopped when I was in front of it.

“At the time the incident caused me a bit of a fright. It happened so suddenly I was slightly shocked.”

Magistrates fined O’Sullivan £588 and ordered him to pay £625 costs plus a £58 surcharge. He was banned from driving for six months.

The chairman of the bench said: “We have absolutely no hesitation in finding you guilty. But for the skill of the police officer there could have been a horrendous accident that day.

“By your own admission you were deaf that morning, which should have put an onus on you to be more careful.”