Drink driver crashed car ‘in a fit of rage’
Drink driver crashed car in ‘fit of rage’
ADRINK driver with two children in his car who smashed head on into another vehicle at high speed was ‘driving in a fit of rage’, a court has heard.
Andrew Paul, 35, of Harwood Road, Rishton, who had never taken a driving test, was heading towards his then home in Haslingden along Roundhill Road when he lost control of his Vauxhall Vectra at around 70mph at around 7.20pm on August 16, 2018.
At Burnley Crown Court, prosecutor Nicola Caroll, said that shortly before the crash, two separate off duty police officers had witnessed Paul’s ‘dangerous and reckless’ driving.
She said a female officer had been forced off the road onto a grass verge as Paul overtook vehicles at speed.
Another officer told how he was overtaken by Paul ‘with his engine roaring and smoke coming from the back wheels’ at a speed of around 70 mph.
Mis Carroll, said: “As the defendant passed the Farmers Glory pub he swerved to avoid parked vehicles and lost control of the car.
“He fishtailed onto the opposite carriageway and collided head on into a Ford Focus driven by Jason O’Brien.”
The court was shown CCTV footage of the collision which showed customers from the pub rushing out to attend to Mr O’Brien.
He sustained three break to his left foot, a dislocated toe and severe bruising to his kneecaps and chest, was hospitalised for three days and off work for four months.
A victim impact statement read to the court said that Mr O’Brien had no chance to react once he saw the car heading towards him and that when he saw it ‘I feared I would not get out alive’.
The court heard that the two children in the car were hospitalised overnight with minor injuries.
Paul, who only had an expired provisional licence, was over the drink driving limit with a blood alcohol reading of 104 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, the legal limit being 80.
Paul had earlier pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, drink driving, driving without insurance and driving without a licence.
Defending, Duncan Nightingale, said he agreed that his client’s driving was ‘appalling’ and that his best defence was his prompt guilty pleas and that he had no previous convictions.
He said Paul had driven to Blackburn from Haslingden and had become angry before the journey back after a domestic argument.
He said Paul had drank around three pints of lager from cans prior to driving.
Judge Sara Dodd said that Paul had driven drunk and ‘in a fit of rage’ and had endangered the lives of several people.
She sentenced him to 20 months in prison and banned him from driving for 34 months and ordered him to undergo an extended re-test if he were ever to drive again.