JAILED: Banned driver who caused Wombourne pile-up
A disqualified driver who caused a pile-up on the main road at Wombourne has been jailed for 16 months.
Father-of-three Ivor Price failed to notice a car turning off the A449 and ended up crashing head on into a tradesman's van, Stafford Crown Court heard.
The van, belonging to Michael Green, was knocked on its side and had to be written off. Its load of ladders and £1,500 worth of tools belonging to Mr Green were also lost.
He later told police he saw a car coming towards him and the next thing he knew he was crawling out of his van, said Mr David Swinnerton, prosecuting.
At the time, Price was serving a three-year ban and under a suspended jail sentence from Wolverhampton Crown Court for dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.
Price, aged 25, of Showell Road, Wolverhampton, admitted driving while disqualified, careless driving and having no insurance.
Judge Carmel Wall told him: "It's very fortunate that no-one was hurt, but substantial damage was done, particularly to the van and that driver has sustained significant financial loss."
The judge heard that Price had only ever held a provisional licence, now expired, but was banned for dangerous driving in 2011, while in May this year he was given a suspended sentence and three-year ban for another offence of dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.
The crash on the A449 happened on October 1. Adam Pearson, with his partner and two children in their car, was forced to brake sharply when the vehicle in front him suddenly pulled in to a car wash.
The defendant, driving a Vauxhall Vectra behind Mr Pearson's Citroen, failed to brake until it was too late. Price hit the Citroen and then swerved in to the opposite lane and into the oncoming van.
"After the accident, the defendant was approached by various people and he spent a while pretending that the driver had run off," said Mr Swinnerton. After being arrested, Price answered 'no comment' in his interview.
Mr John Roe, defending, said: "My client accepts he is going to receive a custodial sentence. He pleaded guilty on the first occasion before the magistrates, he has not sought to procrastinate at all. He knows he has done wrong and deeply regrets that, he accepts his contribution to the accident."
