THE family of a talented footballer who died when a vehicle ploughed into the back of his parked car have called for a change in the law after the driver responsible for the crash was fined only £200.

Lee Hainsworth, who played for Shildon Football Club, died in February after parking in a lay-by on the A177 to ring his girlfriend on a mobile phone.

Yesterday, Kathryn Ann Graham walked free from court after pleading guilty to a charge of careless driving.

North Durham Magistrates' Court, sitting in Consett, heard that the car being driven by the 31-year-old from Cramlington, Northumberland, had drifted across the carriageway and hit the rear of Mr Hainsworth's car at an estimated speed of 50mph, sending the vehicle somersaulting on to its roof on the grass verge.

The mother-of-one was banned from driving for six months, fined £200 and ordered to pay £55 costs.

Mr Hainsworth's parents, Margaret and David, and sisters Andrea and Emma were left distraught by the sentence.

Last night, Mrs Hains-worth said: "The whole family feels let down, it is farcical.

"We have been waiting nine months for some sort of justice for Lee and this sentence is a mockery.

"The Government should bring in a law of death by careless driving. There needs to be some sort of halfway house between death by dangerous driving and careless driving.

"We have been told that some sort of change is under consideration, but something needs to be done."

On the night of the tragedy, the 26-year-old right-back, who had previously been on the books of Hartlepool United and had trials with Aston Villa, Ayr United and Queen of the South, had set off from his home in Stockton to visit his girlfriend, Lesley Howe, in Shildon, County Durham.

Mr Hainsworth had pulled into the lay-by at Thorpe Larches, between Sedgefield and Stockton, and had started speaking to Miss Howe on his phone.

Graham, who was travelling home in her VW Passat after visiting her mother in Stockton, had overtaken a bus and was pulling back into the left hand lane when she drifted too far over and into the lay-by where the impact occurred.

Ian Walker, prosecuting, told the court: "At that point, tragically, Miss Howe heard the bangs and crashes of what was clearly the collision.

"She listened on and heard Mr Hainsworth groan twice and then complete silence."

Mr Hainsworth was taken to the University Hospital of North Tees, but was pronounced dead.

Graham suffered whiplash injuries, cuts and bruises.

Lewis Pearson, for Graham, said his client had been unable to work or drive since the accident and was undergoing psychiatric treatment.

He told the court: "We may never know why this collision occurred. Perhaps there was some lack of attention due to her looking in the rear view mirror.

"It was a momentary lapse of concentration."

He added: "Nothing she can say by way of expressing her great sorrow to the relatives of the deceased can bring him back and that is something with which she will have to live."

But Mrs Hainsworth said: "He's the one who is not going to come home tonight and we are serving a life sentence.

"A large part of each one of us died that day."