A motorist who mowed down a pedestrian on a zebra crossing has been banned from driving.

Damien Pantak did not see victim David Rosser, who was thrown onto his bonnet and suffered three broken ribs and severe concussion in the crash.

Mr Rosser was three quarters of the way across the crossing in West Hill Road, Torquay, when he was hit at around 30 mph by Pantak’s Volkswagen on February 6.

A driver in a car behind Pantak saw the pedestrian and could not understand why he did not slow down before the accident, which happened just after dusk and in heavy rain.

Pantak, aged 26, of Castle Road, Torquay, who works in Newton Abbot, admitted dangerous driving and was jailed for nine months, suspended for two years, disqualified for three years, ordered to do 130 hours unpaid community work and pay £640 costs by Judge Graham Cottle at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: ’I have absolutely no explanation at all why you did not see the victim. He was there for other witnesses who were behind you to see. You simply did not see him.’

Mr Ian Graham, prosecuting, said Pantak had pulled in front of another car at the double roundabout at the bottom of West Hill Road and overtaken a car shortly before the accident.

The driver of the car behind thought Pantak was speeding up rather than slowing down in the moments before he hit Mr Rosser, who was thrown onto his bonnet with enough force to dent the car and break the windscreen.

Mr Rosser, who was wearing a jacket with white florescent flashes on it, said he saw the lights of a car to his left and had no time to react before it hit him.

He suffered three broken ribs, bruising all over his body, and post concussion syndrome. He was still receiving physiotherapy and attending a pain clinic seven months after the accident.

He said the impact on his family, social and work life was immense.

Mr Barry White, defending, said Pantak had not been speeding and had stopped to help Mr Rosser at the scene. He said it was dark, raining hard, and with poor visibility and he had simple not seen the man on the crossing.

He said Pantak was working nights at the time at a factory in Newton Abbot but had slept during the day. He was giving his mother a lift home and so was not deliberately driving dangerously.