A young man who souped up his car to make it go faster took it for a test drive and ended up crashing it after driving at speeds of up to 140 miles per hour.
Sam Pointing had a pal sitting in the passenger seat and filming on a mobile phone as they sped along the road. Moments later he lost control of the Honda Civic after braking heavily and the car hit a lamppost and flipped onto its roof.
On Wednesday, July 1, Pointing, 22, appeared at Luton crown court to be sentenced after being convicted earlier of causing serious injury to his passenger by dangerous driving.
Judge Barbara Mensah hearing the case was told his friend who had been filming from the passenger seat suffered pelvic and hip injuries as well as internal bleeding and cuts and bruisers.
In addition he suffers flashbacks of the crash which has left him scared of being a passenger.
The court heard it was on the evening of October 25, 2018 that Pointing of Church Road, Sundon in Luton was behind the wheel of the car as it sped southwards on the A1 dual carriageway near Biggleswade.
He and his friend beside him and been working on the vehicle making modifications to it which would make it go faster and that evening were test driving it for the first time.
Nick Saunders prosecuting said Pointing was driving at over 100 miles per hour in the outside lane when a car indicated to move into the lane.
Because of the speed of the Honda, Pointing had to brake heavily causing the vehicle to veer out of control and collide with a lamp post.
Police attended the scene and Pointing claimed he had been travelling at between 60 and 65 miles per hour.
Even when it was put to him that witnesses had said the car was travelling at 100 miles per hour, Pointing denied speeding.
His friend who had been in the car went on to tell police they had been travelling at 55 miles per hour when another car pulled out in front of them.
However in September of last year, almost a year after the crash the friend told police that in fact they had been travelling at speeds of up to 140 miles per hour before the crash occurred.
He even handed police footage of their driving which he had taken from passenger seat on the mobile phone in the moments leading up to the crash Miss Minal Raj defending said: “They were extremely stupid and naive to get into a car with a plan to speed.”
She said Pointing’s career as a mechanic had come to an end because of what had happened and is now labouring on a building site.
Pointing’s parents were in court today for the hearing and the judge was told the son deeply regretted what had happened and was genuinely remorseful.
Passing sentence Judge Mensah told Pointing: “You lied about the speed you were doing and sought to blame someone else.”
She said his driving that evening had not just put bit himself and his friend in danger, but other road users and that was why the courts took such offences seriously.
She jailed him for 12 months, disqualified him from driving for two years and six months and ordered he take an extended driving test before he gets behind the wheel of a car again.
