Unlicensed driver went wrong way and caused collision

Head-on collision on A5

PAIR LEFT SCENE AFTER A5 CRASH

AN unlicensed driver caused a headon collision after getting on the wrong side of a dual carriageway at night.

Constantin Caldararu needed to get to work at a Leicester warehouse, but the person who usually drove was unable to take him.

Although he was uninsured and had only a provisional driving licence, Caldararu set off in a borrowed car to drive to Leicester with his brother.

A diversion sent the 28-year-old along an unfamiliar route and he ended up getting on to the wrong side of the A5 near Lutterworth – only realising when he saw the headlights of three lorries and a Vauxhall Insignia coming towards him.

The Vauxhall driver, who was moving to overtake a lorry, had nowhere else to go and collided head-on with the Skoda Caldararu was driving. The Vauxhall span around and the driver broke his thumb and two teeth, cut his head and suffered whiplash.

The emergency services were called but Caldararu and his brother got their things out of the boot of the damaged Skoda and walked off up the A5.

After the crash, at about 9.40pm on November 12, the casualty was cut free from his car by paramedics and taken to hospital for treatment. Police arrested Caldararu about a mile-anda-half from the scene of the crash.

At Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, speaking through a Romanian interpreter, he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop at the scene of a collision, driving while uninsured and driving without an appropriate licence.

Prosecutor Isabel Wilson told the court: “The A5 goes from a single to a dual carriageway with a central barrier.

“The other driver pulled out to overtake a lorry and saw the defendant’s Skoda driving towards him and he was unable to avoid a collision because the lorry was in the left lane.

“He was travelling at around 55 to 60mph. His car’s airbags deployed and it spun across the carriageway.

“The defendant and the other male got out of the Skoda, took items out of the boot and began to walk away from the scene.”

Caldararu’s solicitor, Wayne Hardy, said his client had co-operated with the police after his arrest. He added the accident was down to a single mistake, rather than a long period of bad driving. Mr Hardy said: “Mr Caldararu is not familiar with the stretch of the road.

“He lives in Coventry and works in Leicester and is normally collected and taken to his place of work.

“He was let down and made the foolish decision to borrow a vehicle and drive himself and his brother to work.

“There was a diversion, which took Mr Caldararu away from his usual route. The stretch of the A5 has a complicated junction.

“There don’t appear to be street lights on that stretch of the road. Mr Caldararu turned onto the wrong side of the dual carriageway and didn’t realise he was on the wrong side until he saw the headlights of the oncoming traffic.

“Fearing for his safety – because a crowd had gathered – Mr Caldararu and his brother left the scene.”

He said Caldararu, who lives in Coventry with his wife and two children, had been in the UK for three years and had no previous convictions in either the UK or Romania. “I hope the court will decide Mr Caldararu’s driving on the wrong side was not deliberate,” said Mr Hardy.

Caldararu, of Telfer Road, was give an 18-week jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work.

He was also banned from driving for the next 24 months and ordered to pay £85 towards court costs and a £122 victim surcharge.

The chair of the bench, Rachel Uddin, said: “We believe this is a oneoff incident and that you’re not likely to bother the courts again.”