A careless van driver must pay more than £800 after he caused a six-vehicle smash in the middle of Hitchin.

Stevenage magistrates heard that Darron Gayle, of Rothesay Road in Luton, drove a Ford Transit van without due care and attention on December 16 last year, when he pulled away from the traffic lights at the junction of Bedford Road and Oughton Head Way, near Butts Close.

The 26-year-old pulled out to avoid parked cars but in doing so pushed a Peugeot Partner van into oncoming traffic – as well as hitting the parked vehicles, damaging four of them,

He was then aggressive to witnesses after getting out of the van.

The case was proven in Gayle’s absence on July 7. Magistrates have endorsed his driving licence with seven points and ordered him to pay £811, including £660 in fines, a £66 victim surcharge and £85 in costs.