Notts man blacked out or fell asleep before head-on crash

A Newark man either fell asleep or blacked out at the wheel seconds before he crashed headlong into another car, a court has heard.
Mansfield Magistrates Court.Mansfield Magistrates Court.
Mansfield Magistrates Court.

Andrew Scott Woolley, 28, currently at HMP Nottingham, admitted driving without due care and attention at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

George Speed, prosecuting, told the court Woolley’s white Vauxhall van crashed into a red Honda Jazz at traffic lights on Aspley Lane, in Nottingham, at around 4pm on April 20.

He read from the Honda driver’s impact statement: “I saw a small white van about four car-lengths away. It drifted over to my side of the road, heading straight for me.

“I got scared and believed it was going to hit me.”

The driver performed an emergency stop, but the van ‘collided head-on.’

She wrote: “I could see the driver was male. He was clearly not looking at the road ahead of him.”

The airbags deployed. Her car was scraped when another vehicle swerved around her, but another car crashed into the back of the Honda Jazz, smashing the rear window.

“As a result of the incident my vehicle is a complete write-off,” the victim wrote. “I have suffered from lasting pain in my left hand, bruising and whiplash.”

Donna Pusglove, mitigating, said: “He said he had either fallen asleep or blacked out at the wheel.”

Woolley also admitted carrying a passenger in the back of his van where there were no seatbelts.

He is currently awaiting trial on two charges of actual bodily harm.

He was fined £80 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £15 and £85 costs. Six penalty points were added to his licence.

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