Drug driver veered into wrong lane before crashing head-on into family’s car

A drug driver from Runcorn has been jailed after smashing into a family's car, causing serious injuries to one passenger. Damien Crellin, 39, tested positive for cannabis after veering into the path of a car on a rural North Wales road, injuring several people.

Caernarfon Crown Court heard Crellin, of Salisbury Street, Runcorn, told police he had been driving around North Wales with his partner and her daughter that Sunday afternoon. He had overtaken a number of other cars and may have been trying to catch up with a group ahead before the collision on the A494 between Bala and Dolgellau on September 5, 2021.

A woman at the scene asked one motorist, who had stopped, where she should "hide the defendant's weed," NorthWalesLive reports ^[1]. Crellin had met some people and sold them stickers before heading along the A494.

Prosecutor Nicholas Williams told the court witnesses saw Crellin driving his white Audi A3 Sport Quattro aggressively, overtaking inappropriately and narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic. One witness said she had been so intimidated by Crellin's driving before the crash she pulled over to let the Audi driver pass her.

Two more drivers said they were overtaken with one having to "slam on the brakes" to allow the Audi driver to pull in and avoid oncoming traffic. Mr Williams said it appeared he was trying to catch up with some vehicles ahead.

When Crellin reached Rhyd-y-Maen near Dolgellau he took a left hand bend too quickly, went into the opposite lane and crashed head on into a family's Volkswagen Tiguan car. A rear seat passenger in the car, Gulneet Madhan, was seriously injured.

Mr Madhan's father, who was driving, and his brother were also hurt in the crash. Mr Madhan sustained a broken arm, while his brother suffered chest, shoulder and knee injuries.

The defendant himself sustained a fractured ankle and a dislocated heel, the court heard. Relaying the Volkswagen driver's account of the smash, Mr Williams said: "The defendant's white Audi suddenly appeared in front of him, partly on the wrong side of the road.

"There was no time to react. The front driver's side of the defendant's car struck the front driver's side of his vehicle."

In a statement Mr Madhan said the crash had affected his university studies and he has nerve damage. He still suffers pain and can't grip things properly.

The judge condemned Mr Crellin's driving as "aggressive, dangerous and selfish", jailing him for 28 months for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Prosecutor Mr Williams said a woman asked a driver stopped at the scene of the crash where she should hide the defendant's cannabis, while another woman looked for something in the defendant's car and seemed to remove it before police arrived.

Crellin said he had panicked on the A494 bend, thrown his steering wheel around and seen a white flash. He blamed the other driver and denied taking cannabis. A forensic examiner said the bend could only be taken safely at 37mph.

Crellin's barrister Tom Gent accepted his client had been going at 45mph and he had shown a "disregard" for other road users. Mr Gent said: "He entered (the bend) too quickly, overshot the apex and entered the opposing lane which caused the collision."

Crellin needed hospital treatment for his own injuries. Mr Gent said Crellin had lost his job as a manager at a Queensferry fast food restaurant because he had an interim driving ban.

It would have taken three hours each way to get to and from work by public transport.

The Recorder Wyn Lloyd Jones said it was "a tragic case for all concerned". The defendant had been driving "aggressively, dangerously and selfishly". It had been an out and out lie to say the other driver had been in his lane.

In addition to being jailed for 28 months, Crellin was disqualified from driving for three years and two months. He must then take an extended retest.

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References

^{^} NorthWalesLive reports (www.dailypost.co.uk)
^{^} Waitrose shopper targeted in 'car scratch' distraction theft (www.cheshire-live.co.uk)
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