Survivor of horror smash to sue driver

Amanda Young was driving her sister Laura Binns, 30, and her two-year-old son Kieran home to Largs when Jennifer Lunet's car, heading in the opposite direction, careered into them.

Ms Lunet, 30, from Livingston, faced charges of causing the deaths in the smash two years ago, but walked free from court in August following a not proven verdict. The jury heard that Ms Lunet had a heart condition which could make her black out at the wheel.

Ms Young, from Boghall in Bathgate, who has two boys aged 14 and 15, suffered horrific facial and leg injuries and may never walk again without the aid of walking sticks or crutches.

She has had several painful operations to insert pins and rods into her legs and has had a plate inserted in her face after suffering fractures in her cheek and jaw bones.

She is still too traumatised to talk about the incident but her mother Marie, 52, said all her daughter's dreams have been shattered.

Mrs Young added: "Amanda will never be able to walk normally again and, at the end of the day, we believe that Ms Lunet is to blame despite the court verdict.

"She wanted to be a nurse and had been accepted for a course at Napier University and was looking forward to that. She had planned a whole new career but the crash has put paid to all that.

"She cannot now do the things she wanted to do for her and her boys, and has lost her sister and nephew. I am 100 per cent behind her decision to pursue these damages."

Laura Binns' other two children, Brandon, 12, and Stephanie, nine, now live with their father in Cumnock in Ayrshire.

Local MP Michael Connarty has also written to the DVLA to ask for Ms Lunet's licence to be revoked because of the heart condition.

Mr Connarty said: "I find it very strange that the judge in this case did not insist on this. If you have a blackout at the wheel you should have your licence taken away.

"She should immediately have had her licence revoked.

"I have fought several cases of my constituents who have had theirs taken away for dizzy turns. One of them was an HGV driver who went to the doctors and told him he had a dizzy turn up ladders when he was painting in the house.

"The doctor reported this to DVLA and he got his licence taken off him and lost his livelihood. It's a question of due process and consistency.

"She not only admitted she had a heart condition but went out of her way to prove it. Surely the DVLA should accept the same evidence as the courts.

"If a judge didn't refer it to the DVLA then how would they know, but I have certainly made them aware of it."

Ms Lunet, originally from France but now living in Raeburn Rigg, had been driving east on August 31, 2008 on the M8 when her car swerved across a 40mph contraflow lane and hit Ms Young's Vauxhall Corsa. Ms Lunet said she remembers nothing about the crash.

She was accused of causing the fatal smash by driving without due care and attention and without reasonable consideration for other road users.

The court had heard during the trial that she had been fitted with a heart monitor following the crash, which had recorded one abnormal reading in November 2009, after she had sex with her partner.

A spokesman for solicitors Simpson & Marwick, who are representing Ms Lunet, said they did not wish to comment on the case on behalf of their client.