Aylesham man who admitted dangerous driving is jailed for 14 months

A man who admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving following a head-on collision in Dover has been jailed.

Thomas John Armstrong, aged 28, of Kings Road, Aylesham, was sentenced to 14 months in prison by Judge Heather Norton QC at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday (17 March 2017). He was also banned from driving for two years and seven months.

Armstrong was driving a Proton Savvy the wrong way down Frith Road, a one-way street, in the early hours of Monday 21 November 2016 when it was in collision with a Nissan Juke.

Airbags in both vehicles deployed and the passenger in the Juke suffered a fractured left arm.

During police interviews Armstrong admitted drinking earlier that evening. He told officers he had initially planned to sleep in his car but it was so cold he decided to drive home.

He drove from Tower Hamlets Road onto Bridge Street and straight across the junction onto Frith Road instead of turning right around the one-way system.

Armstrong gave a positive roadside breath test after the collision and was arrested at the scene.

Sentencing him, Judge Norton said Armstrong had driven knowing he was over the limit, which was an aggravating factor in the case.

But she added that she had taken into account the fact that he had given full and frank admissions, had not tried to leave the scene and had shown remorse for what had happened.

Investigating officer Police Constable Zoe Rice said: "During police interviews Armstrong told officers he had stopped drinking around two hours before the collision. He said thought it would be OK if he stuck to the straight, main roads. Clearly this was not the case.

"The passenger in the Juke faces physiotherapy on her arm for some time to come.

"Driving dangerously can have disastrous consequences, as this case shows. And Armstrong’s 14 month sentence and driving ban show how seriously the courts take this type of offence."

Armstrong, who will have to sit an extended driving test before he is back behind the wheel, was also ordered to pay a £140 victim surcharge.