A man who drove an off-road bike on the wrong side of the road crashed and caused himself and his friend serious injuries.
Jack Campbell, 20, has narrowly avoided a prison sentence after he appeared at Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday to be sentenced. The court heard he had been driving the vehicle - which is illegal on the roads - through Leeds at around 10am on February 19, 2022.
The night before Campbell, of Rosedale Walk in Hunslet, Leeds, had drank and taken cocaine. Judge Robin Mairs told the court Campbell had been seen by a number of witnesses prior to a collision with a parked car in Old Run Road.
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He said: "You and the complainant were on the off-road bike. You had no protective clothing and were not wearing helmets. You only had a provisional licence which meant you had no insurance...You rode head on into a parked car."
The court heard that Campbell had been seen driving the bike on the wrong side of the road, into oncoming traffic before the crash. Judge Mairs said: "Witnesses prior had said you were riding the bike, wobbling, and the passenger had his legs out to steady himself. It was when it was going around 40mph that he was thrown into the air and suffered serious injuries."
It was said the man suffered a fracture to part of his skull and bleeding to his brain. Campbell also suffered serious injuries and following his arrest told police he had been drinking and taking cocaine the night before. He was found to have 148mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. The legal drink drive limit is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, making him almost twice the drink-drive limit.
Campbell went on to plead guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving at the first available opportunity.
Judge Mairs handed him a two-year sentence suspended for two years. He told him: "If you break the terms of that order, I reserve the breaches to myself and I will send you to prison for 24 months."
Campbell was ordered to undertake 10 days rehabilitation activity requirement and 100 hours of unpaid work. He was also made the subject of an alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement for four months and banned from driving for four years. Once that four-year period has passed, he will have to take an extended driving test.
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