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Driver on school run jailed after losing control of his car

A father-of-five has been sent to prison after losing control of his Jaguar on a bend and smashing into an oncoming car, injuring a woman and child.

Lee Holland was driving along the Dungeness to Lydd road in March, taking his child to school, a court heard.

But the 41-year-old National Tyres employee, from Mill Road, Lydd, was speeding in excess of the 60mph limit.

The Jaguar involved in the crash. Picture: Paul Amos
The Jaguar involved in the crash. Picture: Paul Amos

Canterbury Crown Court heard how after overtaking one car, he “shot back” to his side of the road to avoid a collision with a lorry along the single carriageway.

But Holland over-steered his XJS and went off the road, before ploughing into an Audi A3 car with a 38-year-old mum at the wheel, who was also taking her two children to school.

Prosecutor David Jones said that the injured had to be cut out of the vehicles before being taken to hospital.

Holland, the mother and one of her children, all received serious injuries.

Mr Jones said the Audi driver was driving towards Dungeness along a road she later described as “a horrible, uneven road, not nice to travel along”.

The mum added: “I would never travel at 60 mph because in my opinion, it’s a dangerous road, where there are always stupid over-takes.”

The prosecutor added: “She was doing between 40 to 45 mph. She looked at her rear-view mirror for a split second and the next thing she saw was a car coming on the same side of the road.

“She tried to steer out of the way but had no time to avoid a head-on collision. Her daughter told her later that she said: ’Oh my god he’s going to hit us!’ but she had little recollection of that.”

Dash-cam footage from a lorry travelling towards the Jaguar, which caught part of the accident, was shown to court.

The road closed after the accident
The road closed after the accident

Judge Heather Norton was told that another motorist who saw Holland said he looked grumpy.

Mr Jones said the Audi driver suffered many injuries, including fractured vertebrae, a broken arm, elbow and a fractured pelvis.

The injured child has also been suffering flashbacks after suffering a fractured collar bone.

The prosecutor said Holland, who was also seriously injured and arrived at court using a crutch, had been travelling at between 64 and 73 mph prior to the crash and had overtaken on a bend.

David Howells, defending, said Holland had no recollection of the crash but was genuinely remorseful.

He added that it had not been “a prolonged piece of dangerous driving”.

Holland, who admitted two charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, was jailed for a year and banned from driving for three and a half years.

Judge Norton told him: “This was a brief but, nevertheless, a significantly dangerous manoeuvre which you carried out while taking your child to school...it was fortunate that nobody was killed, including yourself and your child.”

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