A car ploughed through two gardens leaving destruction in its wake when the driver tried to negotiate a bend at up to 50mph.
Destruction - Frances Lewsey, Teresa Marshall and Gerald Jenkins at the scene of the crash in Point Clear Road, Point Clear. Laurence Blundell admitted careless driving and was given 80 hours of community work. Picture: TERRY WEEDEN (43851-1)
Magistrates told Laurence Blundell that the incident was one of the most extreme cases of careless driving they had come across.
The 24-year-old lost control of the silver Rover he had just bought as he drove it round a sweeping left-hand bend in excess of the 30mph limit - despite his friends' pleas for him to slow down.
A court heard that Blundell - who only holds a provisional licence - had two friends in the car as it skidded off Point Clear Road, St Osyth, and hit a concrete fence.
The impact smashed a post off the fence despite reinforcing metal rods being in place.
Christian Meikle, prosecuting at Colchester Magistrates' Court, said: "The car then ploughed through a hedge into a property and collided with a Renault in the garden, which was damaged.
"Having hit that, the force of the impact lifted the car and it managed to clear a four to five foot high hedge, travelled five to seven metres through the air, and crashed into the next garden."
As it landed, the Rover was projected forward - smashing into and damaging two further vehicles in that garden, he added.
The court heard that unemployed Blundell was seen by shocked witnesses to get out of the car and leave the scene after the crash. Unfortunately for him, one of those witnesses was an off-duty police officer who gave chase and arrested him.
Mr Meikle said Blundell, of Kenilworth Road in Holland-on-Sea, and his two pals, were all taken to hospital.
Blundell admitted careless driving with no insurance or licence and to driving a car in a dangerous condition.
He also insisted he had been driving within the speed limit, but when pressed admitted it was more likely to have been between 45 and 50mph, adding: "It was not a problem because I was driving carefully."
Blundell was ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work for the benefit of the community.
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Published Wednesday, November 23, 2005
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