A festive holiday maker who caused a serious accident when she drove on the wrong side of the road told police she thought she had fallen asleep.  

Sally Knowles, 66, was driving to a holiday cottage for a Christmas and New Year period break on December 27 when she crashed head-on into another car. 

Norwich Magistrates’ Court was told a woman driving in the opposite direction on the A149 between Holme-next-the-Sea and Thornham was trapped in the wreckage after being hit.

Sarah Fiddy, prosecuting, said: “Ms Knowles was on the wrong side of the road coming around a bend which left her with little or no time to take evasive action.” 

She told police she thought she had fallen asleep at the wheel until her passenger had started shouting at her, the court was told. 

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The occupant of the other car was hospitalised with a number of serious injuries including a broken elbow and forearm. 

Knowles, of Barton Road in Cambridge, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by careless driving.

Jeremy Kendall, mitigating, said the retired former director at a publishing company had been travelling with her daughter in the front seat having booked a holiday home.

“My client fully accepts that she was on the wrong side of the road but she cannot really explain why she did that,” he said.

“She was asked in her interview to account for that and she can’t. It was a momentary lapse.”

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He said she was a very active member of organisations including Friends of Kettles Yard art gallery and Cambridgeshire Beekeepers Association and losing her driving licence would impact on her activities. 

Magistrates told her it was a “very serious offence” that had resulted in serious injury and had put others in danger

She was banned from driving for 15 months, ordered to do 120 hours unpaid and must pay costs of £259.