Chesterfield driver who smashed into busy pub seating area while overtaking handed suspended sentence

A Chesterfield man who crashed his car into a busy seating area outside Chesterfield's Batch House pub, leaving three people with "life-changing injuries", has been handed a suspended sentence by a judge. Watch more of our videos on Shots! and live on Freeview channel 276

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Judge James Carter told Reece Drabble his driving had "life-long consequences" for his victims and "they will probably never recover from what you subjected them to" Derby Crown Court heard how Drabble, 27, lost control of his VW Polo on August 5 2022 when he "floored it" past a learner driver on Chesterfield's Sheffield Road.

The single carriageway had been resurfaced with stone chippings the day before and a 20mph advisory speed limit was in place at the time.

Emergency services attend the incident at Whittington Moor

His Volkswagen Polo careered on two wheels straight into a busy seating area outside Chesterfield's Batch House pub. The court heard Drabble's speed at the time was 40mph to 44mph on the 30mph road and two of his tyres were "defective". However this would have made little difference to the crash as Drabble's speed was the accident's "main causation".

Upon impact he left three people with "life-changing" injuries.

Reece Drabble left his victims with life-long injuries during the crash at Chesterfield's Batch House pub

Prosecutor Stefan Fox described how the seating area outside Chesterfield's Batch House pub on Sheffield Road was "very busy" on the "warm and sunny" evening of August 5 2022. He described how the road outside had been "dressed" the previous day with chippings and signage advising 20mph was visible. Another driver described Drabble as a "boy racer-type driver" "revving" his engine as he overtook "aggressively and at speed".

The learner driver Drabble passed before he hit the pub described him as "flooring it" past her.

Staff were praised for their swift response after a car crashed into the rear wall of The Batch House in Chesterfield and left six people injured

Mr Fox said one victim was sat outside the pub with her partner when she heard a "loud screeching which sounded like a car skidding". She was left with a 20cm, deep cut to her thigh which left her with constant "flashbacks" to the "piercing sound" of the car's wheels spinning. She said in a statement read to the court: "I remember being paralysed with fear.

I had no idea whether Marcus (her partner) was dead or alive." Mr Fox, continuing, said: "The car smashed through the bollard separating the seating area from the road into the seating area and a number of people sat outside." He said the woman's partner saw the vehicle coming towards him, pushing metal mesh fencing with it.

He said: "He knew he had no chance of getting out of the way. He came around feeling his legs were trapped. "He was trapped underneath the car and people were telling him not to look at his legs."

The victim described in his statement "reliving" the events every night in his sleep for weeks afterwards and the "heartbreak" of seeing his partner's injuries. He was left with a bruised lung and fractures to his pelvis and spine. Another victim described being "thrown backwards" and feeling the car "brush his legs" and seeing his friend trapped between the Polo and the bollards outside the seating area.

His friend was left with fractures to his femur, fibula and skull. The 37-year-old father of three said the pain he was left with in his leg since the accident was "unbearable" and he now suffered with PTSD and depression. Drabble, the court heard, was freed from the car by the fire service when its roof was removed and taken to hospital.

Lesley Pidcock, defending, said Drabble had voiced a "significant amount" of remorse and regret since the accident and wished he had crashed into bollards rather than the seating area. The court heard Drabble, of Hillman Drive, Inkersall, had no previous convictions. He admitted three counts of causing serious injury by careless driving.

Judge James Carter told the defendant his offending was in the "highest category" due to the "grave injuries" caused. However a pre-sentence report indicated he had been assessed as "low risk" to the public by the probation service and showed a good prospect of rehabilitation. Drabble was jailed for 16 months suspended for 18 months and handed a 20-month driving ban with an extended test.

He was also ordered to pay GBP750 compensation to each of the victims.

References

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