Ex-fireman crashed Jaguar on A1(M) in North Yorkshire

Simon Thirtle, 45, had cocaine and Ecstasy in his body and fled the scene leaving his Jaguar XF with a wheel ripped off on the central reservation, said Mark Haigh, prosecuting. The court heard it was the second time he had been caught drug driving and he knew the consequences of the offence because he had to deal with them many times during his career as a firefighter. Thirtle, of no fixed address, who sleeps in his car, pleaded guilty to two charges of drug driving.

He was given an eight-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months on condition he does a six-month drug rehabilitative course and 20 days' rehabilitative activities. He was banned from driving for three years and ordered to pay a ?154 statutory surcharge and ?85 prosecution costs. His solicitor Pippa Carruthers said in 2020 he had suffered a major injury that left him needing to learn to walk again. "There is a complex mental health background," she said.

Mark Haigh, prosecuting, said members of the public alerted police to the crash at 12.20pm on Sunday, June 22 on the A1(M) near Scotch Corner. Thirtle had left the scene, but police tracked him down and he told them his Jaguar "moved towards the central reservation," got caught in some gravel and he was unable to prevent it hitting the central barrier. He failed initial tests for cocaine and cannabis and a blood test revealed he had a cocaine breakdown product at four times the legal limit and Ecstasy at nearly four time the legal limit.

He had previously been banned for drug driving on February 6, 2023. Ms Carruthers said Thirtle remembered something happening to one of his tyres, possibly a blow-out. It would have been unsafe for him to remain on the central reservation with his car, she said.

Thirtle fully understood the dangers of drug driving, she said . "Over the course of his career he was attending road traffic accidents on a regular basis." Thirtle, of Darlington, lives on benefits and has sought professional help both for his drug use and his mental health problems. Deputy district judge Gary Garland said Thirtle had experienced "traumatic" things in his life that had left him scarred.

He read a pre-sentence report on Thirtle before passing sentence.