‘Senseless’ driver who crashed on A18 after drinking ‘nine pints’ is jailed
A man who drank nine pints of beer before getting behind the wheel of a van and causing a crash on the A18 that left his passenger badly injured has been jailed. "Utterly selfish and senseless" driver Thomas Doran, 40, of Keighley, West Yorkshire, was found guilty of causing serious injury by dangerous driving as well as assaulting an emergency worker and sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment on Wednesday (April 9) at Liverpool Crown Court. It follows an incident on the A18 near Scunthorpe on the evening of Saturday, February 25, 2023.
Doran was driving a white Ford Transit van with two passengers, a man and a woman known to him, before he pulled into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The van then spun leading to the back doors opening. A woman, who was sat on a makeshift seat without a seatbelt, was thrown onto the road, suffering extensive head injuries.
When emergency services attended the incident, Doran assaulted a paramedic who was assisting with the lifesaving care of the woman. A roadside breath test revealed Doran was almost twice over the limit and he was arrested. He refused to provide a sample of blood for alcohol analysis.
An investigation from Humberside Police's Roads Policing Team involved extensive CCTV enquiries which found that Doran had gone into a pub that afternoon around a mile away from where the crash happened. The CCTV footage showed him leaving the pub a few hours later and getting into the driver's seat of the van, with the man and woman accompanying him, having drunk "nine pints of stout". Officer in the case, Wade Cruse from the Roads Policing Team, said: "This case is a stark reminder of how the reckless decision of driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs can have devastating consequences.
The driver made the decision to put others lives in his hands while impaired, including those closest to him, and the outcome could have been much worse. "Doran is an utterly selfish and senseless man who willingly gambled with the safety of himself, his passengers and innocent members of the public. This was a series of dangerous and poor decision making.
"Driving after several pints, having passengers in the vehicle, and then showing violence towards first responders trying to help. The short distance from the pub to the collision is all it took to turn a day out into a lifelong ordeal. "Drink and drug driving is never just about you, it's about every passenger in your vehicle and every other road user who could be affected by your actions.
In this case, a passenger who trusted him paid the price. "We have recently launched our One Second Roads Crime campaign which aims raise awareness of the devasting consequences of driving dangerously. Driving under the influence, speeding, using your phone, or a reckless judgement, just one second of these decisions can destroy lives forever.
No journey is worth that risk.
"We continue to encourage members of the public to report any road traffic offences and dangerous driving to us by calling our non-emergency number 101 or 999 in an emergency, to help hold drivers like Doran to account for their actions."
You can also submit video evidence of driving offences that you or other members of the public have witnessed via Humberside Police's online reporting tool Op Snap[1].