A WOMAN motorist crashed her car into the side of a van when she turned right at a York crossroads against the traffic lights, the city’s magistrates heard.

Prosecutor Caroline May, quoting an eye-witness, said: “He (the van driver) had no chance of braking. The impact spun the car right round. The whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion.”

The van driver was travelling along Haley’s Terrace towards Fossway on February 18 and, after the traffic lights turned green for him, headed across Huntington Road at about 20 to 25mph.

Selma Zengin, 33, was waiting to turn right from Huntington Road into Fossway and did so without looking first. The two vehicles collided.

Zengin, speaking through a Turkish interpreter, and almost in tears, said: “I am very, very sorry for the accident. I didn’t wish this to happen. The only consolation I have is no-one was injured. There is nothing else to say.”

Zengin, of Hornby Court, Fourth Avenue, Tang Hall, pleaded guilty to careless driving, and driving without a UK licence. She told the court she had not realised that she was only allowed to drive on a foreign driving licence in the UK for 12 months after arriving in the country. She has been in the UK since January 12, 2009.

She was fined £70 with a £15 victim surcharge and £45 prosecution costs.

The magistrates told her she could not drive until she had obtained a UK driving licence and when she did, it would have three penalty points on it.