A MAN who ended up crashing into parked vehicles after his van went through the picket fence of a house fled the scene and failed to report the incident to police, a court heard.

Riley Smith, of Jubilee Court in Alderholt, pleaded guilty to failing to stop after a road accident, failing to report an accident and driving without due care and attention.

He was sentenced for the offences, which happened on July 4, 2019 on Station Road in Alderholt, at Salisbury magistrates’ court on Thursday, December 10.

Prosecutor David Fosler said the defendant was driving a transit van which ended up going through a picket fence of the front garden of a property and “colliding with a couple of parked vehicles”. This caused one of the vehicles to be pushed into another.

Mr Fosler said full details about the cost of the damage were not available. He added the police attended but the defendant had left the scene.

The defendant, Mr Fosler said, failed to report the incident but police “tracked him down and found him”.

The court heard the 25-year-old had pleaded guilty to the charges at the first opportunity.

David Jones, defending Smith, said the offences dated back to July of last year but a hearing at Weymouth magistrates’ court was unable to go ahead in February 2020 and then the Covid-19 lockdown in March had delayed the matter being dealt with by the courts.

Mr Jones said: “This is a matter that has been floating since then. It’s been a long time and is no fault of Mr Smith’s that it has taken such a long time to be concluded.”

He added that Smith had not got into any more trouble since this incident and should be given credit for his early guilty pleas.

The court heard Smith was now back with his partner and runs a landscaping business.

Mr Jones said there was “relatively minor body work damage” caused, which had been covered by his client’s insurance company.

He said Smith needed his licence to carry out his job as a landscape gardener and “there was no way he can do the job without access to a motor vehicle”.

Mr Jones asked that the court consider issuing penalty points rather than a driving disqualification.

Smith was fined £250 and ordered to pay court costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £32. His driving licence was also endorsed with ten penalty points.