Taxi driver lost his business, home and has been left severely disabled after crash with drink driver
A TAXI driver who lost his business, home and has been left severely disabled following a car crash involving a drink driver has warned of the tragic consequences of getting behind the wheel when drunk.
Keith Foster was on his last call of the night near Bishop Auckland when he was critically hurt in the crash which claimed the life of the other driver involved.
Kieran Arkless, 23, from Willington, near Crook, was over the drink drive limit when his Ford Focus was in a head-on smash with Mr Foster’s Skoda Octavia taxi on a bend on the A689 near Newton Cap viaduct at around 12.30am on December 14.
An Audi A4 heading towards Bishop Auckland then ploughed into the wreckage.
Mr Foster’s family spent Christmas at his hospital bedside. The 48-year-old, also from Willington, suffered paralysis to his right side, internal bruising to his internal organs, a collapsed lung, fractured back, brain damage and broken ribs.
Mr Foster and wife Bernice, 43, are now warning other drivers about the tragic consequences of drink-driving.
“It’s absolutely devastating for the whole family," said Mrs Foster. "People that jump into cars after a drink just don’t understand what it does to people’s lives.
“It’s not just the life of the person doing it, it’s everyone around and it’s their own families as well.
“Christmas is coming up again and how many more people will get hurt by it? People need to think twice about jumping in their cars."
Mr Foster’s injuries were so serious he spent two weeks in an induced coma at James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, and remained in intensive care for six weeks.
In March he was moved to Bishop Auckland Hospital for a further six weeks before finally being allowed home.
Since then he has returned to hospital for major heart surgery to repair his aortic valve and, despite months of rehabilitation, still needs a stick to walk.
Because he can no longer climb stairs, the couple have also been forced to leave their home of 21 years to move into a bungalow in Ferryhill. He is also no longer able to run his taxi business, which he had for 15 years.
His wife added: “Our whole life changed in a split second. Every time we could get we went to the lakes with the dogs and did a couple of mountains. This year we’ve been nowhere and done nothing apart from going to hospital.
“We’ll never be able to get back to walking mountains. What will be nice is if the day ever comes when we go to hospital and say we don’t need to see you anymore.”
source: http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/l ... nk_driver/
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he was a nice bloke didn't deserve that to happen but unfortunately that is life it's always the hard working descent people that are the victims
