Darragh O'Grady, 31, has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving after taking a taxi, colliding with a cyclist and driving the wrong way down the A55 near Holyhead. He admitted the charge at Caernarfon Magistrates' Court on Thursday.
Court hearing details
O'Grady, of no fixed address but from Ireland, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving during a brief hearing on Thursday morning, North Wales Live reports. He also pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen of breath, driving a motor vehicle without third party insurance and otherwise than in accordance with a licence.
He indicated guilty pleas to aggravated vehicle taking, theft from a person and fraud by false representation. He will be sentenced at Caernarfon Crown Court on September 18.
Incident timeline
The offences came to light when a taxi was reported as stolen from Holyhead on Monday, August 24. Shortly afterwards the taxi was involved in a collision with a cyclist on London Road.
The taxi then entered the A55 westbound travelling the wrong way. Officers safely stopped the vehicle on the A55 after closing the road and O'Grady was arrested.
North Wales Police said that at the current time there is no evidence to indicate that the incidents on Monday evening were filmed for the purposes of uploading to social media.
Taxi owner's response
Tacsi Zoe, who owned the stolen taxi, said in a statement: "I was personally caught up in this and, like many others, found the whole situation extremely scary and traumatic."
"A huge thank you to all the police officers involved for their quick response and for bringing the situation to a safe conclusion."
Context of recent wrong-way crashes
O'Grady's admission of guilt comes in the wake of a spate of deaths in the UK and Ireland with vehicles driving the wrong way on roads.
Two police officers and five young men died in the early hours of August 22 when a car going the wrong way down a dual carriageway crashed into an oncoming police vehicle. All seven died when a VW Passat, going the wrong way down the A66 at South Bank, near Middlesbrough, hit a Cleveland Police armed response vehicle heading in the opposite direction at 3.39am.
Police Constables Matthew Blades, 27, and Tom Clough, 28, died along with Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Jakub Matusiak, 23, Makai Saddington, 18, Theo Rae, 17, and 17-year-old Cole Robert Worthy were all in the car on the wrong side of the A66.
There was a similar fatality in the Republic of Ireland which led to the death of five teenagers in a head-on crash while they were driving the wrong way down the motorway in County Kildare, earlier this month. Three women and a seven-year-old boy remain in hospital where they are being treated for serious injuries.
