Nurse who overtook in fog and caused crash faces jail

A NURSE could be jailed for dangerous driving after leaving a man with potentially life-altering injuries when she crashed head-on into his car while overtaking a lorry in heavy fog.

Lisa Maxwell and an image from the car crashALEXANDER LAWRIE

Lisa Maxwell could be jailed for dangerous driving

Lisa Maxwell was trying to pass a 50-foot HGV as she made her way to work in March last year.

When alongside the truck, a car emerged from the fog to smash into her vehicle on the A698 in Roxburghshire, leaving the other driver, Alexander Nairn, with injuries including a fractured kneecap. 

He underwent three operations to repair the damage.

Mr Nairn, 31, has still to regain full movement of the knee and suffers from discomfort and scarring.  

His passenger, Stephen Bispham, 51, suffered a cut to his right eye, a broken nose and a broken toe in the smash on the Bonjedward to Kelso road.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard Mr Bispham still suffers from back pain and has been using morphine patches.

Both drivers were cut free from their wrecked vehicles by firefighters and the injured were taken to Borders General Hospital in Melrose.

Maxwell, 49, yesterday pleaded guilty to driving dangerously by overtaking in thick fog and colliding with an oncoming vehicle and injuring Mr Nairn and Mr Bispham. 

An image of the car crushALEXANDER LAWRIE

Maxwell crashed head-on into Mr Nairn's car

Procurator fiscal Claire Crompton told the court Maxwell – who has 30 years’ nursing experience – was driving to work around 7am behind a lorry collecting wheat from a farm.

She said the lorry driver saw headlights in his mirrors and pulled over to the left when Mr Nairn’s Volkswagen Golf appeared out of the fog.

The prosecutor said: “The accused and Mr Nairn were both trapped and required to be cut free by the fire service. 

"Mr Bispham managed to free himself before collapsing on the ground.”  

Lisa MaxwellALEXANDER LAWRIE

Maxwell pleaded guilty to driving dangerously by overtaking in thick fog

Edward Hulme, defending, said Maxwell, from Ancrum, near Jedburgh, has little memory of the collision. 

He told Sheriff Frank Crowe she depends on her licence to get to work and to care for her husband.

Mr Hulme said Maxwell suffered three broken ribs, internal bleeding and bruising to her torso and thighs, had not driven for three months and was off work for four months.

Sheriff Crowe handed Maxwell an interim driving ban and deferred full sentence to next month. 

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