A police driver who pulled out in front of a horrified motorist on an accident blackspot road has admitted he made a mistake, saying: "I'm sorry."

The officer will also been sent on a driving course after performing the dangerous manoeuvre in front of stunned driver Paul Kipling, 27, who captured the incident on his car's dashcam.

Mr Kipling, of Roadhead, said he had to slam his brakes on to avoid a collision with the police van as it pulled onto the A689 outside of Carlisle, near the turn-off for Walby Farm Park.

It was presumably not attending an emergency as it displayed no flashing blue-lights.

In the footage, as Mr Kipling drove along the main road, steadily approaching the road's junction for Low Crosby, the police van is seen driving steadily towards the junction.

But incredibly, the police van failed to slow as it joined the A689, forcing Mr Kipling to take emergency action.

Following the incident on May 3, the married father-of-one made a formal complaint to Cumbria Police.

He was particularly concerned that the incident had taken place just yards from the scene of a fatal crash which happened three months earlier.

Speaking at the time, Mr Kipling called the police officer's piece of driving "reckless".

The News & Star has established that after viewing the video footage, the county police force referred the officer to its own internal investigations squad.

In a statement, a police spokeswoman said: "The constable has expressed his apologies to the complainant and these have been accepted."

She added: "We can confirm that this complaint has now been resolved.

"The driver of the police vehicle, a police constable, has been interviewed by the force's professional standards department, in which he accepted that the driving referred to in the complaint was an error of judgement.

"He will be sent on a three week advanced driving course to improve his overall driving awareness.

"The complainant has been updated and was satisfied with the outcome of the investigation."

Speaking to the News & Star, Mr Kipling said he was happy with the response and was pleased some action was taken.

"I think it's good they are taking steps to improve their officers' skills. I think it's probably the best outcome," he said.

"Hopefully it will make people think about it, not just on that road in particular but other high speed roads.

"So often people make that error of judgement."

Mr Kipling added that he had been pulled over by police a couple of weeks ago on a country lane for a routine stop.

He said he was "quite pleased" it had happened as it showed traffic officers were taking their jobs seriously.