A 52-year-old Chippenham man whose dangerous driving led to an accident that blocked a major Gloucestershire road for six hours walked free from court yesterday David McCarthy had an unblemished driving record until the incident on the A429 Cirencester bypass on April 29 last year, Gloucester crown court heard.

McCarthy, of Hill Corner Road, Chippenham, had denied dangerous driving but was convicted by a jury sitting at Cirencester last month.

At yesterday's hearing he was sentenced by Judge Michael Harington to 80 hours of unpaid work over the next 12 months and banned from driving for a year.

The court had been told that his Toyota Yaris had been involved in a collision with a Skoda Octavia driven by Kemble parish councillor Sorab Sorabjee, 47, of 90 Ewen, near Cirencester.

Mr Sorabjee also denied dangerous driving and he was cleared of the charge by the jury.

The incident happened just before 8am on April 28 when McCarthy's car overtook a car being driven by witness Martyn Rordan. McCarthy then cut back into the inside lane, causing Mr Sorabjee's car and others to brake hardy.

As the traffic headed towards the Burford roundabout, the Skoda overtook the Yaris with both cars travelling at speed. McCarthy kept weaving his car about as if he were going to hit the other.

He then undertook Mr Sorbajee's vehicle and braked hard, causing an inevitable collision.

The Skoda ended up broadside across the carriageway with the Toyota going into the left hand verge and and coming to rest facing backwards.

The road was closed for six hours following the collision.

When McCarthy was interviewed at the scene he said he had moved into the inside lane to let the Skoda past but it moved close behind him. He tried to move out of theway and the next thing he knew, the other car had collided with his.

McCarthy had blamed the other driver for the crash and said Mr Sorabjee had been "tailgating", which Mr Sorabjee denied.

Christopher Jervis, for McCarthy, said it had been an "impulsive and poorly thought out" response to another driver's behaviour.

He deeply regretted his behaviour and had done nothing like this before. He worked in Witney during the week and despite the loss of his licence, he had takden steps to continue his employment.

McCarthy had learned a "salutary lesson"from this incident and when he regains his licence he would take more care.

Judge Harington said he accepted that McCarthy's behaviour had been "totally out of character" and would not happen again.

He ordered that McCarthy carried out 80 hours of unpaid work over the next year and disqualified him from driving for 12 months. He also ordered him to pay £1,000 towards prosecution costs.