A van driver has been sentenced after he crashed into a car, pushing it into the River Thames and leaving an elderly couple stranded in the water.

Zac Bunyard, 26 of Ellington Road, Taplow, was driving his Ford Transit along Lower Cookham Road, Maidenhead, near Boulters Lock, at 9.55pm on August 22 last year when he crashed into the back of a Vauxhall Corsa.

In the Corsa was a man in his 60s and woman in her 70s. The force of the crash pushed the Corsa into the river Thames.

He then fled from the scene on foot, with police saying he showed “no concern” for the car’s occupants who had gone into the water.

The couple were, thankfully, rescued by passing boats and suffered minor injuries.

ALSO READ: Fraudster who scammed Bucks business out of £80k JAILED for five years 

Bunyard was traced and subsequently charged by postal requisition in February last year.

He was found guilty of one count of careless driving and one count of failing to stop at the scene, and convicted at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court on Friday (March 19).

He was sentenced to a four month suspended prison sentence, banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay a £500 fine and £288 in costs.

Investigating officer Robin Nickless of the Joint Operations Road Policing Unit based at Amersham, said: “Bunyard carelessly drove into the back of the vehicle in front of him with such force as to knock their car into the river.

ALSO READ: Cricket club gets £65k HS2 funding to revamp pavilion

“To make matters worse rather than staying on scene to help the couple who were stranded in their vehicle, he ran off from the scene.

“Bunyard has rightly been banned from driving for 12 months’ and I hope this allows him to reflect on his driving and the potential danger he put other road users in by the manner of his driving on that day.”