Young driver overturned car after hitting cabbieA DRUNKEN young motorist struck a taxi driver as he tried to flee in his car after failing to pay for a fare.
Jonathan Thomas Nattrass took the taxi after police ejected him from the Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle, where he vomited in the entrance.
Nattrass, who had been out with friends in Newcastle, asked to be taken to a house in Spennymoor, where he had left his car earlier.
Durham Crown Court heard that he told the driver he would collect money at the house to meet the £43 fare.
Gavin Doig, prosecuting, said on reaching the address in Newby Way, Nattrass knocked at the door, but received no response, so he ran to his nearby parked car.
He got into the Vauxhall Astra and pulled away, but the taxi driver ran into the street with his arms out shouting for him to stop.
Although Nattrass only travelled two car lengths, he accelerated sufficiently to throw the taxi driver onto the bonnet, before he fell back onto the road.
The Astra was driven from the scene, leaving the taxi driver suffering fractured ribs, a ligament injury to the ankle, plus cuts and grazes.
He was off work for three weeks, as a result, and still suffered chest pains two months after the incident, in the early hours of September 14.
Nattrass drove to Spennymoor town centre with his lights off, at speeds of 50 to 60mph on 30mph roads.
The car was driven the wrong way round a roundabout, before hitting bollards, flipping over and coming to rest on its roof.
It was written off as a result and Nattrass, who was arrested, gave a blood sample showing an alcohol content nearly double the drink-drive limit.
Nattrass, 20, of Pickering Place, Carrville, Durham, admitted dangerous driving, driving with excess alcohol, assault causing actual bodily harm, making off without payment and failing to stop after an accident.
Jane Waugh, mitigating, who presented several testimonials to the court, said: “This whole incident is completely out of character for someone who is of hitherto positive good character.
“It’s brought him up sharp as he knows he could have killed either himself or someone else.”
She said that he no longer went out drinking.
Recorder Ian Atherton told Nattrass he could avoid passing an immediate custodial sentence due to his exceptionally good character and early admissions.
He imposed a 12-month sentence in a young offenders’ institution, suspended for a year, with 150 hours’ unpaid work, and banned Nattrass from driving for 18 months.
http://www.theadvertiserseries.co.uk/ne ... ng_cabbie/
Login
Register
FAQ
](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
