By Phil Coleman

Last updated at 21:25, Friday, 15 March 2013

A young motorist who caused a crash that left a man with appalling injuries has been banned from driving for a month.

The head-on collision caused by 25-year-old Christopher Dixon left all three of the people in the other car with serious injuries.

The driver in particular, Alan Drinkwater, was so seriously injured in the crash, in October 2011, that he has been unable to return to work.

He sat in a wheelchair in the public gallery at Carlisle Crown Court as Dixon, of Dent View, Egremont, was given the ban and a fine and costs totalling £3,100. He had originally been charged with dangerous driving but the prosecution accepted his plea to the lesser charge of driving without due care and attention.

Prosecutor Richard Bennett described how Dixon, a “highly paid” Sellafield contractor with no previous criminal history, picked up a friend in his Nissan Primera at 7pm on October 1, 2011.He set off from St Bees, first overtaking a car on Linethwaite Road, and then on to Scalegill Road, Moor Row, said Mr Bennett.

“A number of car drivers noticed what appeared to be a [car] driving perhaps faster than he ought to be.

“After the defendant left Moor Row from Dalzell Street he carried on overtaking another two cars separately, and went on to negotiate a blind right-hand bend.”

As he tried to drive round the bend, he lost control of his car, colliding virtually head on with the car being driven in the opposite direction by Mr Drinkwater, who had two passengers.

One of those passengers estimated Dixon’s speed at between 60 and 70mph, but experts later agreed it was probably between 40 and 50mph, the court heard.

Firefighters had to cut Mr Drinkwater free from his car. He suffered broken ribs, a dislocated toe, serious internal injuries, and a badly broken leg.

His passengers, Peter and Julie Riley, were also badly injured, the former spending 11 days in hospital. Mrs Riley is still having physiotherapy and is awaiting an MRI scan on her back.

Greg Hoare, for Dixon, said his client never denied that his driving had fallen below the required standard. While he was guilty of a blameworthy lapse in his driving, it was not quite so serious as the consequences suggested.

Passing sentence, Judge Barbara Forrester said that while the accident caused was serious Dixon’s driving that day did not fall within the definition of dangerous.

As well as his four-week ban, Dixon was fined £1,600, with £1,500 prosecution costs.

First published at 21:23, Friday, 15 March 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk