A DRIVER whose carelessness caused a crash that cost the lives of a woman and her young daughter has been fined less than a week's take-home pay.

Hereford railway station employee Gareth Hankins, aged 30, of Cwmbran, had denied two charges of causing death by dangerous driving.

After more than eight hours a jury at Warwick Crown Court unanimously found him not guilty of both charges but guilty of careless driving.

Hankins, who had no previous convictions, was fined £150, given six penalty points, but was not disqualified.

The court heard the crash happened on the A465 Aber-gavenny-Hereford road on August 22 last year when a car driven by Hankins suddenly veered into the path of an oncoming articulated lorry.

Lorry driver Alan Vasey fought to control it, but the impact damaged the steering and it veered to its right, head on into Debra Mason's estate, which was catapulted into a field, followed by the lorry.

After spending a few days with her sister-in-law in Bacton, near Hereford, Mrs Mason, aged 33, and her daughter Molly, four, were on the way back to their home in Brierley Hill. They died instantly.

When interviewed by police, Hankins answered 'no comment' to every question, but said in court he had no recollection of the accident.

After the jury returned its verdict, prosecutor Richard Atkins said Hankins could not be jailed for careless driving. The maximum sentence is up to £2,500 fine, penalty points, and discretionary disqualification.

Rachel Bright, defending, said: "He would wish me to express he expresses his sorrow for the consequences of this accident and the effect it must have had on the Mason family."

She said Hankins, who suffered a dislocated and broken hip in the crash, is back at work on light duties and takes home £160 a week. He had been using public transport, but a disqualification 'may prove difficult in the future.'

Recorder Richard Benson QC told Hankins: "The jury have decided you were culpable of careless driving.

"In my view it was a proper verdict because clearly, on the evidence, the circumstances were such that you had a momentary lapse through either distraction or a momentary lapse of concentration.

"You are to be sentenced for careless driving, not for causing the deaths of those two people. I have to put out of my mind the tragic consequences, which flowed.

"You are going to have to bear in your mind the consequences of that tragic day for many years, if not your life."

The fine was 'not to reflect the loss of life, but the carelessness of the driving.'