Nottingham crash cabbie jailed for driving like an 'idiot' A taxi driver who was impatient in bank holiday traffic and caused a crash with an "idiotic" manoeuvre has been jailed.
Ali Khan was driving on the outskirts of Skegness when he tried to overtake a line of slow-moving traffic and caused a collision which left four other people injured.
Khan, of Newlyn Drive, Nottingham, was driving a hired Vauxhall Astra and went into the path of a stationary vehicle waiting to turn right.
Prosecuting at Lincoln Crown Court, Jonathon Dee said that the sheer volume of traffic heading along the A158 towards the coast on May Day bank holiday Monday meant that vehicles were reduced to 40mph on a 60mph stretch.
Mr Dee said Khan, an off-duty taxi driver, pulled out to overtake in a move described by other drivers as "idiotic".
The 25-year-old suffered a broken wrist and his mother, Farha Khan, who was a passenger, received broken ribs. Two children in the car were injured – one seriously – along with a passenger in the other vehicle, who had to have an emergency operation due to her serious injuries.
Mr Dee said the Astra had been hired by Farha Khan – who was the only person insured to drive it. "Ali Khan was unco-operative at the scene and didn't accept he was driving. It was indicated that Mrs Khan was the driver," Mr Dee told the court.
Both mother and son were arrested. Farha Khan went on to tell police she was driving but during an interview admitted it was her son who was at the wheel.
Ali Khan admitted charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and driving without insurance as a result of the incident on May 5, 2014.
Recorder Nicholas Syfret QC jailed him for 18 months and disqualified him from driving for three years.
The Recorder said: "This was a very bad piece of driving. It was so selfish. It is only good fortune that this incident did not result in death. The impression he was giving other drivers was that he was driving like an idiot."
Farha Khan, 44, also of Newlyn Drive, Nottingham, admitted perverting the course of justice and permitting a car to be driven without insurance. She was given a nine-month jail sentence suspended for two years with 120 hours of unpaid work. She was given six penalty points on her driving licence.
Robert Egbuna, for Ali Khan, said he was a hard worker who held down two jobs, working both as a taxi driver and for the post office.
He said that Khan supported his mother and urged that he be given a suspended jail sentence "as an act of mercy".
"His mother views him as the rock in her life," he said.
Simon Eckersley, for Farha Khan, said she suffered multiple rib fractures in the collision. He said "Once she was locked into the lie at the scene it was very difficult to get out of it.''
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