A MOTORIST told police he might not have been fully awake the when he rolled his car while overtaking in the face of on-coming traffic.

Magistrates in Harrogate heard yesterday that Allan Head, 43, of Pinfold Close, Knaresborough, had been driving to work on the road to Ripley at 7.11am on December 3, last year, when the crash happened.

He tried to overtake a builder's van while a car was bearing down from the opposite direction, clipped the van's wing and plunging off the road into a hedge.

He was able to clamber out of his upturned car unhurt.

Head told police: ''I don't think I was fully awake. I was going down a hill and a car came towards me as I was overtaking a van."

Admitting careless driving, he said: "It was a case of being impatient. I can't understand why I overtook."

He was fined £200 with £45 costs and six penalty points.