Skegness driver avoids jail after crash that meant passenger was airlifted to hospital with bleed on brain

A Skegness father has avoided immediate jail after crashing his car with his eight-month-old baby in the back and leaving a passenger having to be airlifted to hospital with bleeds on the brain.

Boston Magistrates’ Court was told last week that the driver from Skegness was bragging about how good his driving was moments before his Audi A4 crashed on Gunby Road in Orby on October 24 last year.

A court order banning the identification of the baby was made, which means the father cannot be named.

He admitted the charge of causing serious injury by dangerous or inconsiderate driving.

Prosecutor Jade Salter told the hearing the defendant had been seen ‘driving very badly’ on Gunby Road in Orby at about 5pm before he lost control after clipping a grass verge, colliding with a ditch and coming to rest on the opposite side of the road.

“He had been seen at speed overtaking other vehicles unsafely,” said Miss Salter who referenced a witness statement of the defendant’s partner who was in the front passenger seat of the car.

“She asked him numerous times to slow down as they felt the driving was unsafe because of the very young baby.

“She was petrified and told the defendant ‘if we crash it’s your fault’.

“The defendant was saying that he knew the car’s limit and how to handle it.

“Another passenger not wearing a seatbelt was egging the driver on for overtakes and saying ‘go on, smoke them, destroy them’.”

The court was told that hitting the grass verge sent the car into a spin.

After coming to a rest the partner found the baby unhurt, but the passenger, who was not wearing a seatbelt and was the brother of the defendant’s partner, was unconscious and covered in blood.

The air ambulance took him to hospital in Hull with numerous injuries including to the spinal chord, lungs and bleeds on the brain, Miss Salter said.

He was on a ventilator in intensive care and had to be tube fed for a period as well as needing a facial operation as he’d been left unable to close one eye due to fractures.

The defendant defended himself in court stating he was still speaking with those involved and was separately going through court action to get full custody of his son.

“All I can say is sorry,” he said.

District judge Daniel Church told the defendant he’d been ‘playing the big man’ and ‘showing off’.

“That you took the risks you did with your partner and baby in the car is staggering,” he said. “You are very fortunate that no-one was killed or seriously injured.

“Your partner was worried because she knew your driving was putting people at risk.

“That there was no other vehicles around is good fortune on your part.

“It’s more down to luck that what happened was not worse.

“One passenger was very seriously injured and you could have ordered him to wear a seat belt.

“You neglected that responsibility as you did with how you were driving.”

The defendant was given a 10 month prison sentence suspended for 18 months, 150 hours of unpaid work and must attend 20 days of appointments with a responsible officer.

He was disqualified from driving for five years, ordered to pay a £187 victim surcharge and £85 costs.