THE mother of a teenage moped rider said she was "serving a life

sentence", thanks to the woman whose driving killed her son.

Jo Pycroft's 17-year-old son, Andy, was killed in a head-on collision with a car driven by 23-year-old single mum Tamara Bennett.

Today Mrs Pycroft, a 37-year-old school dinner lady from Gower Road, Dringhouses, York, hit out at the nine-month prison sentence Bennett received for causing death by dangerous driving, and criticised her for driving with loud music blaring in her car.

Mrs Pycroft said: "I have been given a life sentence. I have got to live my life with this, and my family have too. Tell me how you get over this, because I just don't know."

As she was jailed at York Crown Court, Bennett was told the tragedy occurred because she was too impatient to wait for another car to turn off the road.

Mrs Pycroft said: "She (Bennett) will only serve four-and-a-half months, and that isn't enough for my son's life. But at least she will be in jail for Christmas and away from her son for Christmas - I will be parted from my son for life. She's destroyed me and my family, and all she had to do was wait two seconds."

The court had heard how Bennett, of Lycett Road, Dringhouses, swung on to the wrong side of the road and collided head-on with Andy's moped.

Bennett had drunk three pints of lager earlier in the day - although she was not over the drink-drive limit - and loud music was blaring from her Renault Clio as she revved up her engine and overtook another car on Chaloners Road, Dringhouses, on December 12 last year.

The driver in front, Christine Battams, had been turning left into Herdsman Road.

Her trial last month heard how the young mum was playing a Proclaimers song very loudly - but claimed music helped her to concentrate while driving.

Mrs Pycroft said: "I have been driving for 13 years, and there are things a mother can switch off from, like the kids squabbling in the car. But I don't care what anybody says, loud music is a distraction and if you are listening to loud music, you are not as aware of your surroundings as you should be."

In August this year, motorists were warned about the dangers of some types of loud music in their cars after an inquest heard how it played a part in the death of 79-year-old Frederick Booth, when a van reversed into him as he was cycling along Huntington Road.

Driver Robert Collinson, 24, had been listening to dance music so loudly, it was described as being at symphony orchestra levels. He was subsequently convicted of careless driving, fined £500, and banned from driving for a year.

Bennett was also banned from

driving for three years and ordered to take an extended driving test, as well as her jail sentence.

Judge Scott Wolstenholme said she had not spotted the oncoming moped rider, either because she had not looked, or had not looked properly. But he said he had reduced her sentence for the sake of her five-year-old son.

Nicholas Barker, mitigating, said: "There is a real possibility there could be some 'disturbance' for this child in the future."

Mr Barker said the collision occurred at low speed, and was the result of a momentary bad judgement rather than lengthy bad driving. She had only held a licence for a year.

The maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving is 14 years.

:: Andy 'lived life to the full'

THE Pycroft family are still struggling to come to terms with Andy's death nearly a year on, and are facing up to Christmas without him.

His mum, Jo, her partner, Les, and their seven children, Lee, 19, Ben, 17, Kris, 17, Kirsty, 16, Amy, 15, Jack, 12, and Calum, 11, remember a

loving son, and brother, who was always smiling and laughing.

"Andy was one of a kind. He was so loving and

caring - to be honest, he was just the perfect son," said Mrs Pycroft.

"You just couldn't ask for a better son. He never looked on the down side of life. He lived his life to the full, and he was always there for me.

"Ever since his death, I have been amazed by the amount of kids who just come up to me and tell me they knew him. He had friends all over York and beyond, he was just that sort of lad."

Andy was born and grew up in York, going to Dringhouses Primary School and Millthorpe Secondary School. After leaving school, he got a job as a window cleaner for Rawcliffe Cleaning.

In his spare time, he loved listening to music, playing on his computer and socialising with his many friends.

His funeral service was held on Christmas Eve last year at St Edward's Church, in Tadcaster Road, which was packed with his friends and family.

"Andy was just a beautiful lad in every respect, there was no badness in him. He didn't have a bad bone in his body, and he had such an impact on a lot of

people, not just this family.

"I know everybody always says it, but you never expect to have your child die before you and nothing prepares you for what that does to you.

"Last year when the

accident happened, we were all geared up for a fantastic family Christmas that never happened.

"This year Christmas just isn't Christmas, and none of us feel like it. I am still coming to terms with Andy not being here, and I don't expect that will ever change."

Updated: 09:31 Monday, November 28, 2005