A RESPECTED community figure who handed her driving licence back to the DVLA three times after a series of epileptic seizures has been banned from driving for life after crashing her Jaguar into two pedestrians.

Hilda Lumsden-Gill, 59, who was chairwoman of Huntly Community Council, lost control of the Jaguar X-Type, hit a parked four-wheel drive before colliding with two women in the Aberdeenshire village.

One of the women was left with a severe brain injury and fractured skull while the other had other serious injuries following the incident, which led to Lumsden-Gill being charged with dangerous driving.

Yesterday, the motorist was banned permanently after being found guilty of the offence following a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in June.

Lumsden-Gill had denied the charge, lodging a special defence of being in a state of automatism after claiming she had suffered a “complex partial seizure” – a type of epileptic episode.

Her conviction follows the deaths of six people in a bin lorry crash that killed six people in Glasgow in December 2014, in which driver Harry Clarke

lost consciousness at the wheel.

In December 2010, William Payne’s car mounted the kerb, striking and killing two students in Glasgow after he had suffered a ‘vasovagal episode’ and temporarily lost consciousness.

In March this year, businessman Vincent Friel was jailed for three years after he was convicted of causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving following the death of a grandmother in Glasgow.

Pauline Thomson and Georgina Cowper were seriously injured in the accident involving Lumsden-Gill in Huntly in May 2014.

Lumsden-Gill, after striking the four-by-four vehicle in her car, then mounted the pavement and struck Mrs Thomson, throwing her over the bonnet of the car.

The car continued to drive along the road with the mother-of-four still on top of the vehicle, before knocking over Ms Cowper who was standing on the pavement.

Mrs Thomson was airlifted to hospital suffering from a severe brain injury and fractured skull, while Ms Cowper was left with bruising to her head and body and a fractured ankle.

Lumsden-Gill was found guilty of the charge following a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in June, despite denying the allegations.

The 59-year-old claimed she had suffered a “complex partial seizure” - a type of epileptic episode - at the time of the collision, and had lodged the special defence of being in a state of automatism.

Sheriff William Summers, who also sentenced her to 300 hours of unpaid work, said: “For the avoidance of doubt, this accident was your own fault, entirely your own fault and only your fault.”

The sheriff told the court the two pedestrians had suffered life-

changing injuries and were likely to be physically and emotionally scarred for the rest of their lives.

The former teacher, who has quit her role with the community council, was visibly shaking as she was sentenced.

Lumsden-Gill had suffered from seizures occasionally since 1996, and despite MRIs and scans being carried out doctors could never give her a proper diagnosis.

On three occasions between her first fit and the collision, she had voluntarily handed over her licence to the DVLA.

Three years had passed since she had suffered an episode, although she had been seen having a “bad turn” during a community trust meeting the month before.