A teenage novice driver was on the wrong side of the road when she smashed head-on into another car, killing the pensioner at the wheel.

Hanna Siriol Lewis, 18, had only held a driving licence for a matter of months when she caused the death of 79-year-old Bryan John Smithers.

The teenager was driving friends back from the beach when she ploughed into the pensioner’s car.

Lewis admitted causing death by careless driving when she appeared at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

Mr Smithers died at the scene of the crash on the evening of August 29 last year on the B4312 between the villages of Llangain and Llansteffan.

The court heard Lewis, of Llandovery, was 17 at the time and had held a full driving licence for three months.

District Judge Christopher James was told Lewis was an inexperienced driver and unfamiliar with the road which she was driving along with friends after being at a nearby beach.

Prosecutor Sian Vaughan: “This is a tragic set of circumstances.

“She approached a bend on the wrong side of the road and it was a head-on collision.”

The court heard Mr Smithers had been travelling in the opposite direction on the correct side of the carriageway.

A forensic collision investigation report failed to conclude the exact speed either vehicle had been doing but the road had a 60mph limit.

Together with Mr Smithers’ death a passenger travelling in Lewis’ Audi A1 was seriously injured.

Mrs Vaughan said the passenger had suffered a broken wrist, a broken vertebrae, and a punctured lung and spent time in a body brace as part of their recovery.

Defence solicitor Gareth Walters said: “With Miss Lewis’ inexperience and lack of knowledge of the road there is no doubt this was a tragic incident.”

District Judge James said the magistrates’ court sentencing powers were insufficient in the case and sent Lewis to Swansea Crown Court for sentencing on Friday, October 12. She was granted unconditional bail.