Teenager injures 2 friends hitting humpback bridge at 70mph

A teenage driver who was showing off seriously injured two of his best friends after going over a hump-back bridge at 70mph, launching the car into the air. A court was told Samuel Jeffcott’s Mini Cooper flew more than 16 metres before landing back on the road where the front wheels buckled, causing him to lose control of the car, which rolled off the road. Both his backseat passengers suffered serious injuries and were knocked unconscious.

One needed surgery for a displaced thigh fracture and also suffered eight broken ribs and two fractures to his pelvis, while the second had multiple pelvic fractures and injuries to his stomach and bladder. The crash, on Saturday, August 7, 2021, happened while the four friends were travelling home from a festival at Frolesworth, near Lutterworth[1]. On Ashby Road, just outside the village, Jeffcott, who was 18 at the time and had only been driving for 10 months, accelerated his Mini to 70mph despite his friends warnings to slow down.

He told them not to worry, adding: “I always come down here ragging it”. The front seat passenger, who was not badly injured in the crash, started recording a video on his mobile phone, which showed the vehicle speeding toward the bridge, landing and swerving suddenly into the undergrowth on the left side of the road. Jeffcott, now 20, of Bell Lane, Narborough, appeared at Leicester Crown Court[3] for sentencing on Friday, where he pleaded guilty to two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Prosecutor Alice Aubrey-Fletcher told the court that the Leicestershire Police[4] investigators had driven over the bridge and concluded it could not be safely negotiated at more than 30mph. They also found Jeffcott would have had no view of the far side of the bridge, which is on a single-carriageway road. The judge said he was considering jailing Jeffcott, adding: “He could have killed two of his best mates, couldn’t he?” But Tony Stanford, representing Jeffcott, urged him to let him keep his freedom.

He said: “The prisons are full and are referred to as universities for criminals – he doens’t need to go to prison. He was immature. “It’s the experience of these courts young drivers, through immaturity, get themselves and others in trouble.

This is a young man who made a terrible mistake when he was 18.” Sentencing Jeffcott, Judge Brown said: “Your behaviour was that of a reckless, immature young man. You were showing off to your friends.

“They could have lost their lives and they suffered serious injuries. When I first read your case I came to the conclusion only a sentence of immediate custody was appropriate. “I accept you are remorseful.

Two years have passed and you’ve had this over your head for two two years, knowing you might lose your liberty and that is a punishment. “There’s every reason for thinking you’ve learned the lesson of a lifetime and I don’t think you’ll be back here again.” He gave Jeffcott an 18-month sentence, suspended for two years, along with 150 hours of unpaid work and a curfew from 7pm until 7am every night for the next four months.

The defendant was also banned from driving for two years and will have to complete an extended re-test to drive again.

References

1. ^ Lutterworth (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
2. ^ Supermarket groper targeted women in Aldi and B&M branches in Syston (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
3. ^ Leicester Crown Court (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
4. ^ Leicestershire Police (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)