Nicky Butt, 49, admitted causing serious injury by careless driving (Picture: PA)
Manchester United veteran Nicky Butt has been handed a driving ban after smashing his Range Rover into a motorcyclist.
Butt, 49, was taking his son home from football training in Burnley when he pulled out in front of 28-year-old Adam Fielding’s passing Honda bike in October 2022.
Mr Fielding suffered multiple injuries including a broken left leg, which required metal rods to fix, and subsequently lost his job.
He said he was still in constant pain more than 18 months after the incident.
A court heard Butt failed to spot the biker after experiencing a ‘momentary lapse of concentration’.
Prosecutor Graeme Tindall said at a previous hearing: ‘What appears to have happened is a number of vehicles pass what appears to look like a HGV.
‘Mr Butt, having let the HGV come past, pulls out and this is when Mr Fielden is coming past on the motorcycle.’
Butt said he was ‘truly sorry about the accident’ and ‘has not stopped thinking’ (Picture: PA)
Butt admitted causing serious injury by careless driving at an earlier hearing, though he insisted the crash was a ‘total accident’.
In a letter read in court by his barrister, he said: ‘I have not stopped thinking about the accident and the effect it must have had on you and your family. I am truly sorry about the accident.
‘I never set out to hurt anybody that night. What happened was a total accident. I checked and checked and checked again.
‘If I could go back and change the events of that journey I would.
‘I hope you can put this accident behind you. I could not be more sorry. I can only hope you can take this letter for what it is, heartfelt.’
He was banned from driving for 12 months, ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work and fined £225.
John Dye, defending the former footballer, said: ‘The loss of his licence is going to be extremely inconvenient to him and his family but that is the inevitable consequence of this case.’
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