A HIT-and-run driver knocked a cyclist off his bike then drove off with the bicycle lodged under her bonnet.

Aimee Scott, 21, crashed into Michael Bristow as she turned right into York Road from Hebden Rise, Acomb, on May 6, York magistrates heard.

Mr Bristow, 44, said he landed on her bonnet and his head smashed her windscreen before he was thrown to the ground. As she drove off without stopping, he saw sparks flying from her VauxhallCorsa. Scott claimed she did not see Bristow either before the crash or while he was on her bonnet, panicked because she thought someone had thrown something at her car, and drove straight home before returning with her mother. She claimed she thought the sparks were caused by a flat tyre.

Mr Bristow said outside court he did not have any animosity towards Scott because anyone could occasionally make a mistake, but he was aggrieved that she “didn’t have the decency” to stop.

“She had no idea when I fell off whether I was hurt or not,” he said.

“By the time she decided to come back, I could have been dead. It would only have taken a few minutes for me to die.”

The court heard a taxi driver stopped to help him and a man waiting at a nearby bus stop also helped.

“I like to think we live in a society where people who make a mistake admit it and move on,” said Mr Bristow.

Magistrates convicted Scott at a trial of failure to stop after an accident and careless driving.

Bristow told the court his bike had working front and rear lights on and he was wearing dark clothing as he cycled to York Railway Station shortly after 10pm.

The Corsa pulled out when he was five to ten metres away and although he had slowed down, he couldn’t avoid the collision.

Scott, of Queenswood Grove, Acomb, denied both charges. She was fined £500 and ordered to pay £500 prosecution costs and a £38 statutory surcharge.

Magistrates also put seven penalty points on her licence. Because she is a new driver, that means she will now become a learner driver until she repasses her driving test.

Her solicitor Kevin Blount said without a full licence, she would lose her job.

Scott told the court she was heading home at the end of an 11-hour shift working as a home carer when the collision happened, but she was not too tired to drive.

She looked both ways and did not see any hazards, so started the turn. Mr Bristow suffered minor injuries.