A YOUNG driver who killed an elderly cyclist while reversing his car on to a busy York road told today of his remorse over the accident he said had "ruined his life".

Plumber Robert Collinson said he felt "terrible" about causing the death of 79-year-old Frederick Booth.

As Mr Booth's family expressed disgust at the "lenient" sentence handed to the crash driver, he warned it was only a "matter of time" before somebody else died at the same blind exit.

The 24-year-old called for safety changes on the narrow cul-de-sac - so cars unable to do three-point turns on Wray's Avenue did not have to run the risk of reversing into Huntington Road.

His friend, Labour councillor Paul Blanchard, has also made urgent calls to City of York Council for safety work on Wray's Avenue.

He said: "This junction seriously concerns me. It's a blind exit and entrance - a death-trap which needs sorting out without delay.

"There is a place where cars could do a three-point-turn, but there is a gaping hole in the road preventing it being used. This hole needs filling in right away."

Collinson, of Wray's Avenue, spoke out after he pleaded guilty before York magistrates to careless driving - an offence that carries a £2,500 maximum fine.

The defendant, who has a speeding conviction from 2003, was fined £500, with £45 costs, and banned from driving for a year.

He said police told him he was facing ten years behind bars if found guilty of dangerous driving.

But Mr Booth's son, John Frederick Booth, 49, said the sentence was too light.

He said: "I'm disgusted with the outcome of the case and the penalty that's been given to him for taking a life - how much do you put on a life? £500 for my dad's life isn't sufficient - it's far too lenient."

John Booth, from Huntington Road, said his father, who served in the RAF during the Second World War, was "fit as a fiddle" and did not deserve to die the way he did.

Magistrates heard Collinson did not see Mr Booth cycling along Huntington Road towards the city centre on May 29 at 9.50am.

Robert Galley, prosecuting, said music blaring from the defendant's car stereo was as loud as a symphony orchestra. This may have stopped him hearing a warning cry from the cyclist as Collinson backed out.

Updated: 10:22 Tuesday, November 23, 2004