Biker’s life changed forever after crash on way back from Alton Towers

A motorcyclist’s life was saved by the quick-thinking actions of a passer-by after a man driving home from Alton Towers had crashed into him. However, due to the severity of his injuries the victim had to have a leg amputated, Derby Crown Court heard.

The keen gardener, who was riding a vintage Royal Enfield, told how the amputation had resulted in him having to sell all of his motorbikes. In a victim impact statement, he added that the collision had affected every aspect of his life, including making the home he has shared with his wife for 36 years “wholly unsuitable” to live in.

The hearing was also told how father-of-one Joshua Nawab, whose Mercedes had straddled the centre line when it hit the victim’s motorbike, had tried in vain to save the lives of two teenagers who died after being swept out to sea in Blackpool just months earlier, reports DerbyshireLive.^[1]

Nawab, 27, was handed a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, with Judge Martin Hurst telling him: “Essentially, you made a turn you should not have made without checking ahead for oncoming traffic. He was rounding a bend, you were rounding a bend, it was a sweeping right turn and the hazard was a mature hedge.

“You did not have clear visibility, you did not see (the victim) and you sideswiped him. (The passerby) administered life-saving first aid by using his belt as a tourniquet and without that he (the victim) may have bled to death.”

Rosemary Kavanagh, prosecuting, said the collision took place on Cubley Lane in Marston Montgomery, Derbyshire, on September 22, 2020. She said the victim, who was riding the 181st motorcycle he had owned since the age of 16, had decided to go on a 27-mile trip around the area and had rounded a bend when the Mercedes E200 being driven by Nawab “came out of nowhere”.

The prosecutor said: “He had no time to react, he next recalled being on the floor drifting in and out of consciousness, he said his immediate thought was that he was going to die.

“A number of people came to assist with one of them using his belt as a tourniquet, a move which is believed to have saved his life. (The victim) was taken to hospital by air ambulance but such was the severity of his injuries he had to have a leg amputated above the knee.”

Miss Kavanagh said there were no defects with either vehicle, Nawab was not speeding or under the influence of drink or drugs and told police his friends in the car were either “asleep or dozing” and he was “following his sat nav” home from Alton Towers at the time of the collision. After initially being charged with the more serious charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, the prosecution accepted guilty pleas to lesser charges of driving without due care and attention and causing grievous bodily harm.

Miss Kavanagh read out a victim impact statement made by the motorcyclist. In it, he said: “I have ridden motorcycles since the age of 16, fixed and restored them and this was my 181st. I used to tour Europe with my family and this was my main hobby. But the accident has impacted every aspect of my life which was full and active.”

David Bentley, for Nawab and who has no previous convictions of any kind, said just a month before the accident, his client had waded out to sea in an unsuccessful attempt to save the lives of Muhammad Azhar Shabbir, 18, and Ali Athar Shabbir, 16, who drowned after being caught up to their chests in the rapidly-rising tide near St Annes Pier, near Blackpool, even giving evidence at their inquest. He said six months ago the defendant’s partner of nine years, who was in court to support him, had given birth to their first child, a son.

Mr Bentley said: “He has shown an extraordinary amount of victim empathy, writing a letter to the court and one to the victim who he has a desire to meet up with to apologise in person. He works within a marketing team for a cyber security company who are aware of these proceedings and remains supportive of him.”

As part of the suspended sentence order, Judge Hurst ordered Nawab, of Peart Street, Burnley, Lancashire, to carry out 300 hours unpaid work, to pay £1,500 costs and disqualified him from driving for 18 months.

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References

^{^} reports DerbyshireLive. (www.derbytelegraph.co.uk)
^{^} CCTV captures two men fleeing from Merc after it ploughs into Stoke-on-Trent shop (www.stokesentinel.co.uk)
^{^} or click here (www.stokesentinel.co.uk)