A MUM admitted failing to stop after she crashed into the back of a car on the M56 causing other vehicles to shunt into each other.

Melissa Halsall, 29, was also not insured to drive her partner’s white Ford Connect van at the time of the collision, which happened in heavy traffic near Helsby on May 6 this year.

She pleaded guilty to four charges including driving without due care and attention and was sentenced to a 12-month community order to include 120 hours of unpaid work.

Prosecuting at Chester Magistrates Court, Alan Currums said she had been driving on the westbound carriageway at around 1.45pm in stop-start traffic.

At one point the car in front came to a halt and she did not stop in time, crashing into the back of it and causing it to lurch forwards.

Around three other cars were then damaged as the vehicles shunted into each other, leaving drivers with superficial whiplash injuries.

In her police interview, she said she had made sure everyone was out of their cars and uninjured before driving off.

She did not report the accident as she “panicked”, but knew it would catch up with her eventually.

Representing herself, Halsall told the court she fully admitted the charges and had to take responsibility.

She urged magistrates not to ban her from driving as she needed the car to transport her young daughter who has recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

However, magistrates chose to disqualify Halsall, of Pickford Lane, Dukinfield, Greater Manchester, for eight months.