"The damage to his BMW was significant."
Jagdeep Chohan, aged 35, of Willenhall, was jailed for 24 weeks after the drink driver was involved in a head-on crash with a lorry.
On March 16, 2021, police were called to Wednesfield Road and found Chohan’s BMW had been damaged in the collision.
It was later found that “speeding” Chohan lost control of the car, bounced off the kerb and drove towards oncoming traffic before crashing head-on into the truck less than a mile from his home.
He was taken to Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital after fears he had suffered serious injuries, with officers forced to skip a roadside breath test.
Blood tests later confirmed Chohan was two-and-a-half times over the drink-drive limit.
Jennifer Winzor, prosecuting, said:
“It was established that Chohan had not successfully negotiated a bend in the road.
“CCTV shows he mounted a footpath and travelled across the road onto the oncoming vehicles and gone straight into this Volvo lorry.
“The damage to his BMW was significant.
“The defendant was unable to be breathalysed at the roadside. He was receiving treatment for what they thought were potentially life-changing injuries and he was taken to New Cross Hospital, where he received treatment and blood were taken.
“For some reason, the police were told that there was a five-month waiting list for the blood results.
“That blood result did eventually come back. But by that time, the police were out of time to charge [him with driving with] excess alcohol.”
Chohan had 218 milligrams in 100ml of blood. The legal limit is 80mg.
He gave a no-comment interview to police but later admitted dangerous driving.
Ms Winzor said: “He entered an early guilty plea on the basis he was under the influence of alcohol and that he was travelling at speed.
“He accepts he was going faster than the speed limit.
“It is aggravated by the fact that the defendant was two-and-a-half times the legal limit of alcohol.
“Luckily the person he collided with was a lorry, otherwise [there] could have been very serious injuries.
“This was a head-on collision at speed. The defendant did not suffer as serious injuries as [initially] thought.”
Ms Winzor told Wolverhampton Magistrates’ Court that the lorry driver was negative for both drink and drug driving.
It was the third drink driving offence for Chohan.
Chohan was convicted for drink driving in 2008, along with driving without due care and attention, failing to stop after an accident and failing to report the accident.
He also had convictions for failing to provide a specimen, as well as driving without insurance and without an MOT in 2016.
Amandeep Murria, defending, said self-confessed alcoholic Chohan was “extremely worried” about going to prison for the first time.
After his parents died, he turned to alcohol and drinks excessively to “cope with life”.
Mr Murria said Chohan had been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
It was heard that his benefits had been temporarily stopped and his sister was financially supporting him.
Mr Murria added: “It’s difficult for Chohan to accept that he is a recovering alcoholic but that does not excuse the choices he made on that day.
“He does have convictions. There are driving-related and there always seems to be an issue in relation to alcohol.
“He is fortunate that this sequence of events did not lead to the loss of life, he knows that. Not so much his life but other road users and pedestrians.”
Chohan did not have a valid licence at the time.
District Judge Michael Wheeler said:
“You were driving a performance motor car at speed.
“You failed to negotiate a bend, you bounced off the kerb and you struck, head-on, a vehicle coming in the other direction.”
“Had it been a small motor vehicle driven by a vulnerable person, that collision could have easily resulted in fatal or serious injuries being caused.
“The lorry was sturdy enough that the collision caused no significant injuries to the driver.
“This is your third alcohol-related motoring offence. On each of these occasions, you were given the opportunity to address your offending behaviour.
“The court is always sympathetic to defendants who come in with genuine addictions. People who suffer with addictions to alcohol do not need to and should not get behind the wheel when they have been drinking.
“There’s absolutely no excuse for getting behind the wheel of the car when you did and the offence is so serious that an immediate custodial sentence is the only option.”
Chohan was jailed for 24 weeks.
He also received a three-year driving ban and was ordered to pay a £128 victim surcharge.
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