AN off-duty paramedic crashed her private ambulance into a cement mixer after overtaking a police car when she was late getting to a TV film set.

Kathryn Dunn, 48, had turned on her blue emergency lights as she overtook a line of five cars before the crash on the A40 near Eynsham in July because she was trying to get to the set of BBC drama Land Girls to be a duty paramedic.

The crash left her with a punctured lung and fractured ribs, while the drivers of the cement mixer and a Mini also involved in the collision suffered minor injuries.

Yesterday, Dunn – who owns her own private ambulance company and transports patients between hospitals – was given a suspended jail sentence after admitting dangerous driving.

Magistrates were told she had put on her emergency lights to overtake a line of traffic before the head-on crash at Barnard Gate, even though she was not on an emergency job.

Clare Barclay, prosecuting, said: “There was no justification for putting the lights on and she was trying to force her way through the traffic.

Alan Burcombe, defending, said: “This was a huge error of judgement. It was foolish and highly irresponsible.

“Clearly this is a serious case. She has accepted responsibility and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

“It has left a huge effect on her mental health. She has had to have counselling as well as physiotherapy for her injuries.”

Sentencing Dunn, of North Town Moor, Maidenhead, presiding magistrate Carolyn Preston said: “This was a serious incident and one that you could have been sent to prison for.

“But we have taken the view that you will be sentenced for six months, suspended for 12 months.”

She was also told to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work and banned from driving for two years.