A CAR driver who fled after ploughing into a parked car, seriously injuring a toddler, has been banned from driving for 12 months.

Shaid Aslam ran away while paramedics hurried to the scene.

When they arrived, they found that Aman Mohammed, aged two, who was in the parked car, had suffered a fractured skull following the collision.

Aslam, who was described by the boy’s father as a coward, was also ordered to do 300 hours unpaid work. He was only caught after his saliva was found on an airbag, Bolton Magistrates Court heard.

Aslam, aged 25, of Riverview Walk, Deane, was at the wheel of a Vauxhall Vectra when it went out of control and crashed into Waseem Mohammed’s parked Toyota Corolla in Goldsmith Street, Daubhill, in October, 2007.

Mr Mohammed was waiting in the car with his sons, Zakki, aged 12, and two-year-old Aman, while his wife was at a cashpoint machine.

Glenn Anderton, prosecuting, read a statement in court yesterday from Mr Mohammed, describing how he was sitting in the driver’s seat when he heard a skidding noise and looked in his mirror to see a car veering from side to side towards him.

The force of the impact jammed Mr Mohammed’s door and he turned round to see Aman, who had been sitting in the back seat, injured with a dent in his head.

Aman was taken to Pendlebury Children’s Hospital, where he needed surgery to repair his skull. He has since made a full recovery.

After hitting the Corolla, the Vectra veered across the road and smashed into the wall of a house. Witnesses described how they saw three Asian men get out of the car and flee.

Members of the public gave chase and one of them recognised Aslam.

Crime scene investigator Maxine Evans, who examined the Vectra, found fingerprints on the car and its contents and saliva on the driver’s airbag.

Laboratory tests on a fingerprint found on the driver’s door window and DNA from a patch of airbag saliva were identified as belonging to Aslam. He was later arrested but made no comment when questioned by police.

Aslam pleaded not guilty to careless driving, failing to stop after an accident, failing to report and accident and driving without insurance.

But magistrates found him guilty of all the offences and sentenced him to 300 hours unpaid work, banned him from driving for 12 months and ordered him to pay compensation of £250 to Mr Mohammed and £250 to Aman.

In a victim statement, Mr Mohammed said his son, although physically recovered from the crash, is now frightened to ride his bicycle and he criticised Aslam for leaving the scene when someone was injured.

“He is just a coward to do that,” he said in the statement.