Pop Idol winner banned after smash
Young failed to brake in time at lay-by after heavy snowfall
SINGEr songwriter Will Young has been banned from driving and fined after nearly running over another motorist.
The Pop Idol winner drove his 4x4 into the back of a car parked in a lay-by, just as the owner approached the stationary vehicle.
The celebrity had mistakenly thought the car was on the main road and failed to brake in time when he realised it was not moving.
Young was driving on the A68 near Earlston, Berwickshire, on January 21 en route to Edinburgh to interview an actor for his weekly podcast when the crash happened.
He pleaded guilty yesterday at Jedburgh Sheriff Court to a charge of careless driving and was fined £600 and had his licence endorsed with five penalty points.
As he already had 11 points on his licence, he was disqualified for six months under the totting-up procedure.
His lawyer, Stuart Munro, said Young would suffer major inconvenience as a result of the ban when he returns to his remote Cornwall home at the end of July following the conclusion of his West End Show in London.
Horse racing commentator rob Hogarth was returning to his new Nissan Qashqai when the 39-year-old singer’s 4x4 came off a main road and careered into the back of it.
Mr Hogarth, who had parked as he could not get up a snowcovered hill, yesterday recalled the moment he was almost killed by the apologetic pop star.
He said that when he was returning to his own vehicle, he saw a ‘big car’ coming straight at him.
He added: ‘I just stepped out the way and wasn’t really quite 100 per cent sure what on earth was going on. The next thing I knew the car coming into the lay-by went right into the back of my car and drove it right up the banking at the side of the lay-by. I’m just standing there going, “Oh my God, my car!” because it was only about four months old.
‘We were waiting for the police to come and he said, “Oh my God, you were so nearly killed” and it was only at that point that I realised that he just about very nearly hit me.
‘But up until that point I hadn’t even thought about that because I was just worried about my car that had got all smashed in.
‘I know the whole situation is awful – my car was written off and it’s been terrible trying to sort out the insurance – but he couldn’t have been nicer.
‘I was just standing looking at the car, which was all completely smashed in from the boot. And I so nearly went to put my jacket in the boot, and if I’d been standing at the boot, then I don’t know what would have happened.’
Mr Hogarth says he recognised it was Young straight away.
He said: ‘He was in a very big, solid Mercedes-type vehicle and he went over and parked up and then came out and he was like, “Oh my God, are you all right?” I kind of knew exactly who he was.
‘All he was worried about was if I was OK, and all he was doing was apologising, saying, “I’m so, so sorry. I thought this was the road”. He said he saw the lights and he thought this was a car in front of me and he thought this was the road.’
Procurator fiscal Graham Fraser said the incident happened at 6pm on a Sunday evening and conditions were poor due to a recent snowfall.
Mr Munro described the blunder as a ‘momentary loss of control, which led to the unfortunate events’.
The court was also told that Young was convicted of drinkdriving 20 years ago when he was a student at Oxford and he currently had 11 live points on his licence.
He was given 28 days to pay the fine.
Young – who left court by a side entrance without commenting – shot to fame by winning the first series of ITV’s Pop Idol in 2002 beating Gareth Gates in a dramatic final.
‘He just about very nearly hit me’ ‘Momentary loss of control’