[A] MOTORIST who crashed a car with “no brakes” and left a passenger badly hurt has been sent to prison.
Jason Joseph Maughan, 23, drank two pints during an evening at an Eden Valley pub on February 18 last year. When other customers raised concerns about him potentially driving, he insisted he wouldn’t and told one: “My car’s got no brakes”.
But Maughan did then get behind the wheel of his 18-year-old Peugeot 306. And, on the way to a Penrith nightclub with four passengers on board, he crashed it into a stone bridge between the villages of Maulds Meaburn and Kings Meaburn.
Carlisle Crown Court heard his front seat passenger and friend Callum Smith was left with a “grievous” injury. He sustained a dislocated hip, was on crutches for three months and later suffered “nightmares”.
Maughan, who asked a farmer to move his car but then left the crash scene, later told police he didn’t know his brakes were defective. A vehicle examiner concluded the Peugeot’s “historical” problems comprised a lack of brake fluid, heavily-worn brake pads and a broken ABS system.
Maughan, of Woodfoot, Crosby Ravensworth, admitted causing serious injury to Mr Smith by dangerous driving, and was jailed for 15 months today (MON).
When released he must complete an 18-month driving ban, and take an extended re-test.
