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Driving ban for Quadring mechanic behind wheel of 75mph crash in Boston which left fellow motorist with broken vertebrae




A young mechanic who lost control of a vehicle at high speed, seriously injuring another driver, has been banned from the roads and ordered to do unpaid work.

Billy Newman, 21, said he was doing 75mph in a Ford Ranger truck when he clipped a grass verge and collided head on with an Audi A6 in Spalding Road, Boston.

Boston Magistrates' Court
Boston Magistrates' Court

The driver of the car, Kestutis Dicius, spent almost two weeks in hospital after suffering broken vertebrae, a fractured arm and a dislocated and broken kneecap.

He had to wear a back brace to aid his recovery.

Newman, of Town Drove, Quadring, appeared before Boston Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, June 25, to plead guilty to causing serious injury by careless driving on July 10, 2024.

Prosecutor Jade Salter said the crash happened at about 10.45pm and both drivers initially went to Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital before being transferred to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.

A witness told police that Newman had passed him just before the crash doing about 80 to 90mph.

He then saw Newman take the next bend on the wrong side of the road before clipping the verge, causing the pick-up truck to swerve and smash into the Audi.

“The Ford Ranger rose off the floor and went into ditch,” said the witness, who stopped to help at the scene.

Mr Dicius said in a statement to police that he had been doing about 55mph when he saw an oncoming vehicle ‘all over the road’ and realised the driver had lost control.

“It looked as though (the Ford Ranger) was going to go past me but at the last minute, it hit me,” he added.

When Mr Dicius couldn’t manage to open his door, he looked down to see a bone sticking out of his right arm.

In mitigation, solicitor Olivia Maginn told the court that Newman had shown ‘genuine remorse’.

“The road has lots of twists and turns and it’s familiar to Billy,” she added. “He does accept that he was driving at 75mph, which is far and above what a careful and competent would drive at.

“His vehicle clipped the grass verge on the nearside which sent it into a bit of a wobble. He was not able to correct it in time.

“He thought it better to put himself in a ditch than hit the oncoming vehicle but unfortunately he wasn’t able to clear it and the vehicles collided in the front panels.”

The court was told that Newman is a welder and go-kart mechanic who drives internationally.

“He’s got a very good future ahead of him primarily due to his hard work and strong work ethic,” Miss Maginn added.

Chairman of the bench, Gavin Cooper, told Newman: “It was a very, very serious incident in a very large car at a speed which could’ve ended a lot worse than what it did.”

Newman was disqualified from driving for one year and told to do 120 hours’ unpaid work as part of a 12-month community order.

He was also ordered to pay £114 victim surcharge and £85 costs.



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