Driver who ‘made turn he shouldn’t have made’ on way back from Alton Towers left motorcyclist with terrible injuries

4 comments

1. #Driver who ‘made turn he shouldn’t have made’ on way back from Alton Towers left motorcyclist with terrible injuries
   ##The victim had to have a leg amputated after the collision with a car being driven by Joshua Nawab. Before the collision he had tried to save the lives of two teenagers who died in Blackpool
   By Martin Naylor Courts and legal affairs correspondent

   The life of a motorcyclist from Derbyshire was saved by a passer-by after a young driver collided with him as he drove home from Alton Towers. Derby Crown Court heard how the victim, who was riding a vintage Royal Enfield, had to have a leg amputated because of the severity of his injuries.

   In a victim impact statement, the keen gardener told how the amputation has meant him selling all of his motorbikes and has affected every aspect of his life including making the home he has shared with his wife for 36 years “wholly unsuitable” to live in.

   And the hearing was told how months earlier, father-of-one Joshua Nawab, whose Mercedes had straddled the centre line when it hit the man’s motorbike, had tried in vain to save the lives of two teenagers who died after being swept out to sea in Blackpool.

   Handing the 27-year-old a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, Judge Martin Hurst said: “Essentially, you made a turn you should not have made without checking ahead for oncoming traffic. He was rounding a bend, you were rounding a bend, it was a sweeping right turn and the hazard was a mature hedge.

   “You did not have clear visibility, you did not see (the victim) and you sideswiped him. (The passerby) administered life-saving first aid by using his belt as a tourniquet and without that he (the victim) may have bled to death.”

   Rosemary Kavanagh, prosecuting, said the collision took place in Cubley Lane, Marston Montgomery on September 22, 2020. She said the victim, who was riding the 181st motorcycle he had owned since the age of 16, had decided to go on a 27-mile trip around the area and had rounded a bend when the Mercedes E200 being driven by Nawab “came out of nowhere”.

   The prosecutor said: “He had no time to react, he next recalled being on the floor drifting in and out of consciousness, he said his immediate thought was that he was going to die.

   “A number of people came to assist with one of them using his belt as a tourniquet, a move which is believed to have saved his life. (The victim) was taken to hospital by air ambulance but such was the severity of his injuries he had to have a leg amputated above the knee.”

   Miss Kavanagh said there were no defects with either vehicle, Nawab was not speeding or under the influence of drink or drugs and told police his friends in the car were either “asleep or dozing” and he was “following his sat nav” home from Alton Towers at the time of the collision. After initially being charged with the more serious charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, the prosecution accepted guilty pleas to lesser charges of driving without due care and attention and causing grievous bodily harm.

   Miss Kavanagh read out a victim impact statement made by the motorcyclist. In it, he said: “I have ridden motorcycles since the age of 16, fixed and restored them and this was my 181st. I used to tour Europe with my family and this was my main hobby. But the accident has impacted every aspect of my life which was full and active.”

   David Bentley, for Nawab and who has no previous convictions of any kind, said just a month before the accident, his client had waded out to sea in an unsuccessful attempt to save the lives of Muhammad Azhar Shabbir, 18, and Ali Athar Shabbir, 16, who drowned after being caught up to their chests in the rapidly-rising tide near St Annes Pier, near Blackpool, even giving evidence at their inquest. He said six months ago the defendant’s partner of nine years, who was in court to support him, had given birth to their first child, a son.

   Mr Bentley said: “He has shown an extraordinary amount of victim empathy, writing a letter to the court and one to the victim who he has a desire to meet up with to apologise in person. He works within a marketing team for a cyber security company who are aware of these proceedings and remains supportive of him.”

   As part of the suspended sentence order, Judge Hurst ordered Nawab, of Peart Street, Burnley, Lancashire, to carry out 300 hours unpaid work, to pay £1,500 costs and disqualified him from driving for 18 months.

2. Sentences for driving offences are a joke, he should be banned from driving for years not months and lose his license, his past acts of heroism and £ 1500 won’t grow that victim a new fucking leg and give him back his lifetime hobby and shouldn’t be used in mitigation.

3. The description of the accident is very unclear. It sounds as though a legitimate right turn the driver was making was at an inherently unsafe location, and the danger was exacerbated by an unmaintained hedgerow?

4. This is exactly why I avoid country roads as much as possible. The roads are too narrow, there’s no lighting whatsoever, people put their full beams on at night, they’re rarely gritted during icy weather, there are blind spots everywhere, and drivers constantly break the rules and go dangerously fast. It’s fucking dreadful.