A man has been sentenced for dangerous driving after crashing into parked cars in a village. 

Harry Griffiths, 23, of Scotland Street, Stoke-by-Nayland, was driving on the wrong side of the road before he crashed into parked cars outside the Co-op shop in Earls Colne High Street on April 30, 2023. 

His black Volkswagen Golf mounted the pavement and struck a post, launching it into the air, a court heard. 

Griffiths admitted dangerous driving at a hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court on June 19 and was sentenced to a 12-month community order. 

He told the Probation Service he had started thinking about his deceased grandfather and became “momentarily distracted”, the court was told. 

Recorder Simon Denison KC also banned Griffiths from driving for two years and ordered him to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.