A DRIVER who left a family with serious injuries after a crash has been fined £1,000 and banned from the road for nine months.

Kyle Lloyd’s Aston Martin struck Peter Mead, Elizabeth Hutchings and their daughter, 14-year-old Saffron Mead, as they crossed the A337 near Brockenhurst on September 27, 2014.

The three had been cycling but had dismounted to cross the road to the Hollands Wood Campsite.

Both Mr Mead and Ms Hutchings sustained severe leg injuries in the crash, while Saffron suffered a fractured jaw.

Lloyd, 30, of Gosport Street in Lymington, was found guilty of three counts of driving without due care and attention after a trial at Bournemouth Crown Court.

He was originally charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving but was acquitted.

Sentencing yesterday, Judge Nicholas Haggan QC said: “When you gave evidence before the jury you accepted you had been driving - to use your own words - like an idiot, that you had been showing off when you left Brockenhurst.”

He quoted an expert witness for the Crown who, during the trial, said that had Lloyd been driving at the 40mph speed limit he would have had sufficient time to stop before hitting the family.

His average speed through the 30mph and 40mph sections of road before the crash was calculated to have been 63mph.

“I am satisfied you were travelling in excess of the speed limit at the time of the accident,” said the judge.

“The jury found the manner of your driving was not dangerous. Of course I accept that. It is on that basis that I will pass sentence.”

In mitigation, Mark Ruffell said his client was a successful businessman who needed to be able to drive to visit and look after his son, who lives with a former partner, as well as for work.

“He tells me that he finds that he is constantly reminded of what has happened,” he said.

“He doesn’t like to go out so much. He finds the pressure to be very traumatic. it has affected his work life. It has made him more reclusive. He has suffered vilification for it.”

The court heard Lloyd had a prior conviction from 2008 when, Mr Ruffell said, he had been caught sleeping in his car while drunk.

The defendant was ordered to pay £750 costs and his licence was endorsed with seven points.