A driver who reduced a kebab shop to rubble after driving at speed on his mobile phone has been jailed. Daniel Mohammed's reckless driving left his passenger hospitalised with serious injuries. She has since been discharged, and miraculously, nobody in the takeaway was injured.
Crash details
The incident happened at around 6am on July 20 last year, when Mohammed, 21, of Stoke-on-Trent, was driving uninsured in a black Ford on Scotia Road, Tunstall, Staffordshire, while using his mobile phone. Mohammed then overtook a vehicle on a bend and lost control of the car, eventually crashing into a takeaway.
Dramatic CCTV footage showed the takeaway crumbling in half as huge chunks of the facade and bricks crumble to the ground, leaving around half of the end-terrace building standing. The local business has had to remain closed since the incident.
Investigation and sentence
After the initial impact, the footage shows the black car spinning into the road before coming to a stop. The entire front section of the car is exposed and destroyed.
PC Tom Poole of the Stoke-on-Trent north local policing team said: “Mohammed’s reckless driving not only caused serious injury to his passenger but also had a great effect on a local business, which has sadly been closed since the collision.”
The investigation lead added: “When he was interviewed in custody he answered ‘no comment’ to all questions, but we worked tirelessly to gather CCTV evidence, which eventually led to him pleading guilty in court.
“Our thoughts remain with all those affected by this incident and I hope this sentence offers them some closure.”
Conviction
Mohammed admitted to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, using a motor vehicle on a road / public place without third party insurance and using a handheld mobile phone / device while driving a motor vehicle on a road.
He was jailed for two-years-and-two-months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on May 29.
