A mindless driver abandoned his unlit van in the middle of a road in darkness after ploughing into a school fence.
Delivery driver Colin Lascelles left the Mercedes in a "dangerous" position after "panicking" following the crash in Seaton Burn shortly after midnight. A court heard that the 37-year-old fled the scene on foot and didn't report the collision until more than nine hours later and after officers had discovered the vehicle, which was blocking both lanes in the road.
Lascelles, of Aidan Court, in Benton, later attended a police station as a voluntary attender and admitted leaving the scene of an accident and leaving his van in a dangerous position, offences he later pleaded guilty to at North Tyneside Magistrates' Court. He was fined £566, with £85 costs and a £57 victim surcharge.
