A community council stalwart who ploughed into two pedestrians in her Jaguar has been banned from driving for life.
One of Hilda Lumsden-Gill’s victims suffered a fractured skull and serious brain injuries when she was thrown across the bonnet of the green X-Type.
The other was left with bruising to her head and body and a broken ankle.
Retired teacher Lumsden-Gill had denied causing Pauline Thomson and Georgina Cowper serious injury by driving dangerously.
But a jury convicted her at the end of a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Last night, Mrs Thomson welcomed the life driving ban – and revealed she was still waiting for an apology from Lumsden-Gill.
Mother-of-four Pauline Thomson was marking her son Archie’s sixth birthday when she was hit by Lumsden-Gill’s Jaguar just yards from her home.
She said she was relieved she would no longer be on the road – but added both she and Mrs Cowper were still waiting for her to say sorry.
The 35-year-old said she never walks on the left-hand side of Huntly’s Bogie Street where the accident happened.
Mrs Thomson was off work for three months and although she has now returned she still suffers memory loss, headaches and poor sleep.
She also looks after her four children – Blake 12, Blair, nine, Archie, eight, and Beth, six.
Mrs Thomson said: “I still suffer. No matter what she got it doesn’t change what she’s done to me, I won’t get what was taken.
“My speech isn’t right, my memory is bad, I forget all these things you take for granted.
“I don’t sleep. There is just a whole load of things. She’s never acknowledged what she’s done.
“She never apologised. She never said sorry to me or Mrs Cowper.
“Everyone around me knows I am not the same person as before.
“I assumed she would get banned. I don’t think 300 hours of community service is really much.
“She chose to get in that car knowing any time she could take a fit. She was risking not only her life but other people’s lives.
“It has cost me my life and damaged someone else. She knew she should never, ever have driven a car and she drove a car.
“I have got to live with it, Mrs Cowper has got to live with it.
“She has got off very lightly for what she has done. The fact she was found guilty was good, a huge relief, but it doesn’t change what she has done.”
Mrs Thomson also relived the moment she was hit by the vehicle – although she is unsure whether the images which come to mind are real.
She said: “I never go on the side it was on, the left-hand side. It took me ages to sum up the courage.
“What I think I remember of being hit is I have a feeling I landed with my arms up, I swore and said ‘I have been hit’. I didn’t hear the car coming. It is a busy road.
“I don’t remember anything else until I woke up in hospital.”
She added that she now celebrates with her son in the day’s leading up to the birthday – as the day itself brings back painful memories for the youngster.
Mrs Thomson said Archie’s birthday presents and cake remained untouched for weeks following the accident.
She added: “He does feel that day is just a bad day.”
