A motorist who admitted causing a collision in Sherborne that left a teenager with a serious leg injury has been sentenced.
Peter Long Quach, aged 19 and of Yeovil, appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday 6 April 2018 after admitting offences of driving without due care and attention, aggravated vehicle taking, obstructing a police constable in the execution of their duty and driving without valid insurance and otherwise than in accordance with a licence.
He was sentenced to six months’ detention in a young offenders’ institution and disqualified from driving for 15 months.
At around 1.30pm on Monday 21 August 2017 a collision occurred in a public car park off Ludbourne Road involving a grey Volkswagen Golf and a blue and white Sinnis motorcycle.
The rider of a the motorbike, a 17-year-old provisional licence holder, had entered the car park and was driving through it when the Volkswagen emerged from a lane to the left and collided with the nearside of the motorcycle. The car had emerged the wrong way from a one-way system designated by white arrows on the surface of the car park.
The rider was thrown from the motorbike onto the road, approximately ten metres from the point of impact. He was taken to Yeovil Hospital and later transferred to Bristol’s Southmead Hospital for surgery after sustaining a broken left femur with a serious cut and break to his left foot.
After the collision, Quach gave the name of his cousin – who owned the car – to an officer at the scene and continued to give those false details when he attended an interview at Sherborne police station that afternoon.
The following day he called police to admit he had given the wrong details and that he had taken the vehicle without the consent of his cousin.
Quach was not insured to drive the car and his driving licence had been revoked in May 2017 due to the number of penalty points he had accrued.
Police Constable Tim Gooding, of the traffic unit, said: “Peter Quach’s careless driving on 21 August last year left his victim with a serious injury that requires ongoing treatment.
“The defendant took the car without consent, did not have a full driving licence and initially gave a false name to police.
“This case serves as a reminder of the serious consequences that can result when people fail to observe the law and get behind the wheel of a car.”
