A HEREFORDSHIRE man accidentally broke a friend’s pelvis after driving off while she was getting into his car.

Andrew Ellis was picking up his wife and two friends in Leominster.

Hereford Magistrates Court was told the friends got into the back of his car using both back doors.

Louise Mead, prosecuting, said Ellis, of Lowe Croft, Leintwardine, heard a back door shut and assumed both women had got in the same door.

He then started to drive off while the one woman was still trying to get in, causing her to fall and suffer a broken pelvis and fractured femur.

Emma Davies, defending 40-year-old Ellis, said it was a “momentary lapse of concentration” from a usually careful driver.

Ellis admitted a charge of driving without due care and attention. He was given four driving penalty points and fined £65.