A driving instructor has been fined more than £1,000 after ploughing into a horse and sending the rider flying through the air.

Damian Brigstock, of Brander Close, Idle, collided with a horse in Apperley Lane, near Apperley Bridge, Bradford on August 26 last year.

Brigstock was given three penalty points and fined £1,055 after admitting driving without due care and attention at Bradford Magistrates Court yesterday.

Michael Willis, representing Brigstock, told the court his client's six-month-old child had "started coughing, as if he was choking" moments before the accident.

He said: "Instinctively he turned round to see if he was all right and this is when this incident occurred."

Nusrat Mahmood, prosecuting, said the rider, Beverley Yates, had been riding on the left-hand side of the road with her eight-year-old daughter following.

She said: "They had passed the Stansfield Arms pub, where the road narrowed but was still straight.

"Out of the corner of her eye she saw a silver car coming the other way.

"She saw the vehicle beginning to drift on to her side of the road."

Miss Mahmood said Mrs Yates did not have time to react before the car, which she estimated was travelling between 40 and 45mph, struck her and the horse, sending her into the air.

The next thing Mrs Yates recalled was lying in the road, insisting she was all right to console her daughter.

Mr Willis, who said his client had been driving at 30mph, told the court Brigstock's insurers were to cover the cost of the vet's bills, expected to reach up to £5,000.

Brigstock, who has previously had a clean driving licence, qualified as a driving instructor 18 months ago and runs Intuition Driving School.

Mr Willis said if Brigstock, a father-of-two, received six points he would no longer be able to work as an instructor.

He said: "As the sole breadwinner for his family there will be a few repercussions."

To support Brigstock's case Mr Willis presented the magistrates with a list of testimonials from people who passed their driving tests with him.

Chairman of the Magistrates Valerie Parnham told Brigstock this was a serious offence, but he would keep his job.

She said: "We have taken into account how you have co-operated with the police throughout and shown complete remorse to the victim."

After the hearing Pauline Lupton, the horse's owner, said Cameo, a Cob Thoroughbred-cross, received a cut to her left front leg and a much deeper wound to her left hind leg.

She said: "The horse is quite well in herself and we have just started riding her again, but she is not the same as she was.

"I have owned this horse for 15 years and never had trouble with her in her life. She used to be ridden five or six days a week but now I don't think she is going to get back to that level of work.

"I am very grateful that Mr Brigstock admitted liability but the long-term consequences for me, in terms of caring, won't be taken into account."

She also thanked everybody who helped Cameo and Mrs Yates at the scene.

A spokesman for the Driving Standards Agency said: "The Approved Driving Instructor registrar will write to Mr Brigstock asking for representation on the incident.

"The registrar will then review his suitability for the Approved Driving Instructor register."

e-mail: james.rush@bradford.newsquest.co.uk