Drugged-up Mansfield man collided with a family while driving boss's vehicle

Ryan Hurt skidded sideways around a corner on New Mill Lane, Forest Town, and hit the driver's side of the oncoming car as it swerved, sending it into a ditch while his silver Vauxhall Zafira went into a hedge.

The female driver was travelling with her husband and their two children at 7.45pm, on Sunday October 17, last year, said prosecutor Jenna Minton.

She had to kick her door open and shouted at three people to stop when they got out of the Zafira and ran away.

Her whole body ached after the impact and her husband was taken to hospital, suffering from chest pains.

He was cleared of serious injury but suffered mobility issues for a time and found himself unable to travel in a car.

Hurt, aged 23, stayed to call the emergency services. Tests later showed he had more than twice the proscribed limit of cannabis in his bloodstream.

Abbie Edwards, mitigating, said: "He is not only full of remorse, but regret. His thoughts are with the other family."

After the collision he was holding his head in his hands and saying, "I don't believe what I've done”, she said.

Once his boss ‘realised the vehicle was missing and the defendant hadn't been to work for a few days, he put two and two together’, said Ms Edwards.

"He said he was surprised ‘because he has always been a good lad when working for me’.

Hurt, who is about to become a father, lost his job as a welder and fabricator in Awsworth, but has since been volunteering with a gardening firm.

Probation officer Greta Percival said his previous offending was linked to his being homeless at the time and he was last in trouble in 2018.

Hurt, of Alcock Avenue, Mansfield, admitted aggravated vehicle taking, drug-driving and driving without insurance or a licence, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Thursday.

He received a 26-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, with a 31-day thinking skills programme, and 180 hours of unpaid work. He was ordered to pay a £128 surcharge and £85 costs. He was banned for 24 months.