AN ARTICULATED lorry driver appeared in court yesterday after a crash which put a pensioner in intensive care for six weeks.

Lorry driver Kevin Garner, 53, was driving a Volvo Heavy Artic on the A467 on October 18, 2011, when he smashed into the back of William Brock’s Toyota Prius near Rogerstone, forcing it 51 metres up the road and into a tree, Cwmbran Magistrates Court was told.

Mr Brock, 78, who lives in Rogerstone, was driving and his wife Margaret, 74, was a passenger.

The pensioner had stopped in the road as two steel girders had fallen from a vehicle and were blocking the left-hand lane.

The court heard Mr Brock, who suffered concussion, a fractured vertebrae and three broken ribs, was in intensive care until early December and suffered numerous heart attacks in hospital.

Mrs Brock suffered badly bruised ribs, two black eyes and impact injuries to her head and legs.

Both had to be cut free from the wreck and Mr Brock is still in hospital as he goes through physiotherapy.

Garner, of Russell Court, Long Eaton, Nottingham, pleaded guilty to one count of driving without due care and attention.

Prosecutor Catherine Yardley said the lorry was travelling at 56mph in the 50mph zone and failed to see the car had stopped.

He could not swerve into the other lane as there was a bus alongside him.

Magistrates were told an examination of the scene showed Garner had not pressed his brakes until after impact and his lorry actually ended up further down the road than Mr and Mrs Brock’s Prius.

Mark Davies, for Garner, said the long-distance lorry driver was on a job, travelling from Tremorfa to Abertillery, when he crashed.

Mr Davies said the guilty plea was entered on the basis he did not react quickly enough when he saw the Prius had stopped.

He added: “He’s devastated such injuries were caused, if he could change it, he would.”

Magistrates endorsed Garner’s licence with five penalty points, fined him £340 and ordered him to pay £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.