A DEAF driver crushed a three-year-old boy's skull when he drove over him in a four-wheel drive car as the toddler was riding a scooter in front of his driveway.

But 68-year-old Percy Adams of Dundonald, near Troon, claimed he had always been a "careful" driver.

At Ayr Sheriff Court Adams admitted driving without care and attention, failing to keep a proper lookout and colliding with the three-year-old causing him severe injury.

Peter Moyes, prosecuting, said that at 3pm on March 26, the youngster was riding his scooter after being picked up from nursery by his mother.

As they were passing Adams' driveway he pulled out in his Isuzo Trooper. Mr Moyes said: "The boy's mother shouted 'stop'. Mr Adams continued to drive on and the near side wheel ran over the boy."

The boy was treated for two skull fractures and a collapsed lung.

Sheriff Desmond Leslie asked Adams if he had heard the Depute Fiscal's narrative and he replied: "I never heard a word."

Mr Moyes then stood directly in front of Adams and related the Crown version of events again.

When he was asked if he had anything to say in response Adams claimed that neither he nor his wife had seen the boy and that he had always been a careful driver. In the light of that response, Sheriff Leslie withdrew the guilty plea and set a trial date for September 9.