CABBIE Richard Smith could be forgiven for believing that the driver who caused him to endure great suffering has got off scot-free.

Last August, a goods van ploughed into Mr Smith's taxi. The father-of-two had to be airlifted to hospital suffering from injuries including a badly fractured right arm, a broken collar bone and severe internal bleeding. He still cannot work because he has not yet regained full use of his right hand.

So what punishment awaits the driver responsible for the accident that led to such agony for Mr Smith?

A one-and-a-half day retraining course, which will cost the errant driver £160 from his own pocket.

The irony of this will not have escaped Mr Smith, who drives for a living yet cannot pursue his livelihood thanks to someone else's carelessness. Sometimes it is possible to wonder exactly what a driver has to do before earning more fitting punishment.

None of this is to suggest that the driver retraining course is a bad idea or a soft option. Far from it, because the driver who caused the accident will have to address his skills and, it is to be hoped, will emerge back on the roads as a safer driver.

Yet that still does not amount to full atonement for what he did. He should have earned a few points on his licence as well - a punishment which can be picked up merely for speeding.

Updated: 11:45 Thursday, January 06, 2005