Dangerous driver crashed into family’s car after taking bend too quickly
A dangerous driver took a bend too quickly before crashing head on into an oncoming car. Damien Crellin, who tested positive for cannabis, veered into the path of a family’s car on the rural road between Bala[1] and Dolgellau[2], injuring several people.
A court heard Crellin, 39, had overtaken a number of other cars and may have been trying to catch up with a group ahead before the collision on the A494[3] on September 5, 2021. A woman at the scene asked one motorist, who had stopped, where she should “hide the defendant’s weed,” Caernarfon[4] Crown Court heard.
A judge condemned his driving as “aggressive, dangerous and selfish” and jailed him for 28 months for causing serious injury by dangerous driving. The court heard Crellin, of Salisbury Street, Runcorn, had been out for a drive around North Wales with his partner and her daughter that Sunday afternoon.
He met some people and sold them stickers before heading along the A494. Prosecutor Nicholas Williams told the court witnesses claimed he was driving his white Audi A3 Sport Quattro aggressively, overtaking inappropriately and narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic.
Mr Williams said it appeared he was trying to catch up with some vehicles ahead. When Crellin reached Rhyd-y-Maen near Dolgellau[6] he took a left hand bend too quickly, went into the opposite lane and crashed head on into a family’s Volkswagen Tiguan car.
A rear seat passenger in the car, Gulneet Madhan, was seriously injured. Mr Madhan’s dad, who was driving, and his brother were also hurt in the crash.
Relaying how the VW driver explained what happened, Mr Williams said: “The defendant’s white Audi suddenly appeared in front of him, partly on the wrong side of the road. There was no time to react. The front driver’s side of the defendant’s car struck the front driver’s side of his vehicle.”
Mr Madhan sustained a broken arm, while his brother suffered chest, shoulder and knee injuries. The defendant himself sustained a fractured ankle and a dislocated heel, the court heard.
In a statement Mr Madhan said it affected his university studies and he has nerve damage. He still suffers pain and can’t grip things properly.
Mr Williams said motorists stopped at the scene of the two-car collision. One woman asked one of them where she should hide the defendant’s cannabis, while another woman with blue hair looked for something in the defendant’s car and seemed to remove it before police arrived.
One witness said she had been so intimidated by Crellin’s driving before the crash she pulled over to let the Audi driver pass her. He did then sped away. Two more drivers said they were overtaken with one having to “slam on the brakes” to allow the Audi driver to pull in and avoid oncoming traffic.
Police said Crellin tested positive for cannabis. He told officers he had been driving around Wales with his partner and her daughter.
They met some people and he sold them stickers and they were heading to Bala Lake. When it was pointed out they had been travelling in the wrong direction for the lake he said he “must have missed the lake”.
He said he had panicked on the A494 bend, thrown his steering wheel around and seen a white flash. He blamed the other driver and denied taking cannabis.
A forensic examiner said the bend could only be taken safely at 37mph. Crellin’s barrister Tom Gent accepted his client had been going at 45mph and he had shown a “disregard” for other road users.
He said: “He entered (the bend) too quickly, overshot the apex and entered the opposing lane which caused the collision.” He needed hospital treatment for his own injuries.
Mr Gent said Crellin had lost his job as a manager at a Queensferry fast food restaurant because he had an interim driving ban. It would have taken three hours each way to get to and from work by public transport.
The judge The Recorder Wyn Lloyd Jones said it was “a tragic case for all concerned”. The defendant had been driving “aggressively, dangerously and selfishly”. It had been an out and out lie to say the other driver had been in his lane.
He jailed Crellin and disqualified him from driving for three years and two months. He must then take an extended retest.