A motorist who crashed into a telegraph pole panicked and fled the scene, leaving the road partially blocked.

At Carlisle's Rickergate Magistrates' Court, Longtown man David Graham, 29, admitted a charge of careless driving and failing to stop after an accident. A charge that he failed to report the accident was dropped.

Prosecutor Pam Ward said police were called out to Smithfield, north of Carlisle, at about 11.30pm on October 11 after an accident was reported to them on the A6071.

Officers arrived at the scene and found a badly damaged VW car and a toppled telegraph pole, which completely covered the northbound carriageway. The car's registered owner was the defendant, who lives on Moor Crescent, Longtown.

"At midnight, on October 12, officers attended the defendant's home but he was not there," said Mrs Ward.

Graham later given his account of what happened to police.

Mrs Ward summed this up, saying: "He said he had been coming back from a friend's house and was tuning the radio channel when he heard a bang. He had hit the kerb. Then he hit the telegraph pole. When he saw the amount of damage he panicked. On the Saturday, he rang the police and spoke to a lady but was told that the officer involved was off."

Sean Harkin, for Graham, said the accident was the result of the defendant's momentary lapse of concentration.

"Unfortunately, he became distracted," said the lawyer.

He pointed out that the defendant had cooperated with police and he did report the crash the next day.

When he left the scene, it had been his intention to return to sort things out, said Mr Harkin.

"But he panicked somewhat," he said.

The defendant, who was given three points on his licence in 2016, was given a further seven penalty points and fined £641. He must also pay £85 prosecution costs and a £64 victim surcharge.