A MAN walking his dog home found himself lying in the middle of the road after he was hit by a car running on a near-silent motor.

Crossing the road at the corner of Wood Street and High Street shortly before 3pm on March 23 the man was hit by a 13-plate Lexus driven by 73-year-old Paul Notton.

Magistrates sitting in Swindon heard from Notton's defence Mark Glendenning that his client pleaded guilty to an offence of driving without due care and attention, although the Greywethers Avenue resident was not present in court himself.

Crown prosecutor Keith Ballinger told the court yesterday that the last thing the man remembered was stepping off the pavement and beginning to cross the road.

"He woke up close to the other side of the road with a paramedic assisting him, his leg was painful and swollen," said Mr Ballinger.

"The man was already in the road and Mr Notton didn't give way as he was required to do. He indicated and turned left and saw the man in the middle of the road. He tried to swerve to avoid him but there was a collision."

Defending him, Mr Glendenning said his client had a full clean driving licence.

"When his vehicle is driven below 28mph it drives purely on the battery so makes no noise at all," he said.

"As he came around the corner it is unlikely that this gentleman would have heard him, but he does accept that the man was on the road and he should have given way to him.

"He immediately phoned the police and the ambulance and made full and frank admissions and cooperated fully."

Sentencing him, chairman of the bench Natalie Cuss fined him £265, reduced from £400 for his guilty plea, and ordered he pay £85 Crown Prosecution Service costs and a victim surcharge of £26.

She also imposed five penalty points on his licence.