Banned driver criticially injured in crash

Photo / Thinkstock

A man who was forbidden to drive has crashed his ute into a paddock near Matamata suffering critical injuries.

The 54-year-old man crashed off Buckland Rd near the tiny settlement of Hinuera at 4.45pm yesterday, Hamilton Police spokesman Andrew McAlley said.

"It appears the man's eastbound ute has left the road and gone down a bank, crashing into a paddock," Mr McAlley said.

The driver was taken to Waikato Hospital by ambulance in a critical condition and remains in the hospital's intensive care unit.

"He was wearing a seatbelt - however he was forbidden to drive."

Waikato road policing manager, Inspector Leo Tooman, said he understood the man, who was on his way home at the time of the crash, had an old paper driver's licence instead of a photo identification licence.

Photo driver licences replaced paper ones in the late 1990s and drivers caught using an expired licence face up to a $1000 fine.

"He's forbidden until he obtains a photo licence," Mr Tooman said.