A CAR driver who caused life-changing injuries to a motorcyclist after she pulled into her path will live with guilt "for the rest of her life".

Teresa Winn, 45, from Calgary, Canada, had been driving behind a tractor on the A170 near Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe, North Yorkshire, on August 27 this year when the crash happened.

Motorcyclist Janet Cosgrove, from Teesside, had been behind Mrs Winn’s Volkswagen Passat in the queue behind the agricultural vehicle, Northallerton Magistrates Court heard on Friday (November 20).

After seeing an opportunity to overtake, the motorcyclist signalled to pass the vehicles. But as she drew alongside Mrs Winn, the car driver suddenly pulled out to overtake the tractor without indicating, knocking Mrs Cosgrove off her bike and into a hedge.

The rider was seriously injured, suffering a bleed on her lung and an injury to her brain, as well as a broken arm and leg, broken ribs and a broken bone in her back. She was treated at James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, but will never make a full recovery, the court heard.

At court a guilty plea was entered on behalf of Mrs Winn to a charge of driving without due care and attention.

Defence solicitor Rebecca Stanton, said: “The circumstances are clearly tragic. She’s devastated, genuinely devastated, by the events.

“She will have to deal with that and live knowing the injuries she has caused to Mrs Cosgrove for the rest of her life.”

Mrs Winn, who was born in the UK but now lives in Canada, had been on a two-week holiday, visiting family and friends. She had been driving a hire car and was with her husband and two children aged nine and 11.

Chairman of the bench, Edward Gayle, said: “I was here on the first day Mrs Winn attended court and I can say I recall from that day she was totally devastated by the circumstances that led to her being in court that day. The whole episode has been devastating, not only for the injured party, but also for Mrs Winn.”

He imposed a financial penalty of £300, court costs amounting to £265 and ordered five penalty points be placed on Mrs Winn’s licence.