A disqualified driver who crashed his parents’ car in the most spectacular fashion has been told never to forget his meds or he will kill someone. Louis Loveridge wrote off the Audi he had sold to his parents when he drove it out of their driveway without their consent and crashed it into a parked vehicle a mere half a mile away.
At a sentencing hearing at Truro Crown Court today (Thursday, January 2), it was heard how the 38-year-old from Rosevear Road in Bugle had been driving at such speed away from his parents’ home when he collided with a double garage on Roche Road in St Austell.
The prosecutor told the hearing that the “crash was spectacular” as the Audi ended up on top of the parked vehicle in the driveway at the address, with both vehicles being write-offs. The damage Loveridge caused to the property and the other vehicle was so extensive that it cost £30,000 to fix the garage alone.
Not only that but Loveridge also walked away from the scene and returned to his mum’s address before being taken to hospital. The only person injured in the crash, he suffered five broken ribs, a punctured lung and required to have a metal plate fitted in his upper arm.
The crash happened on May 15 last year at a time when Loveridge was already disqualified from driving following a drink-driving conviction. He has two other convictions to his name for similar offences.
Loveridge was later arrested and made a full admission. He pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity to one charge of aggravated vehicle taking, failing to stop after a road accident, using a vehicle without insurance and driving while disqualified.
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His defence barrister told the court that Loveridge had been in a “dark place at the time” and had driven in that way in order to hurt himself. He added: “He has since sought to repair the wall of the garage not covered by the excess on the insurance. He has engaged with counselling with the support of his family.
“He had difficulties before but has since been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and is taking medication for it. He didn’t select or choose to attack a house. He drove badly and suffered the consequences and he accepts the loss to his victim.”
His barrister told the court that Loveridge is now taking antidepressants and medication for his bipolar disorder.
His Honour Judge Simon Carr, sentencing Loveridge to an eight-month prison sentence suspended for two years, said: “You must have been driving at very high speed and lost control of the car. The accident took you into someone’s driveway and your car ended up on top of the other car.
“Had anyone been in the driveway, whether a child going to school or someone out going shopping, they would have been killed instantly that day. There was also a caravan parked there with someone living in it. Had you hit them, you would have killed them.”
He added: “You didn’t have the courage to stay or call the emergency services but you only had thoughts for yourself and to distance yourself from the scene. It speaks volume of your character or rather lack of it.”
Judge Carr said he had taken Loveridge’s genuine remorse and attempts at reparations into consideration as well as his diagnosis for bipolar.
He added: “You have battled mental health problems for most of your life. It was after your accident that you were diagnosed as bipolar. It makes people go through phases of mania and depression and you were in a depressed period at the time of this offence.
“You are now receiving medication for it. Don’t forget what happened. There is only one thing you can do to put this right that is never to fail to take your medication. There will be a temptation to stop the medication, but if you drive again without them you will kill someone. It could be yourself or it could be a three-month-old baby.”
As well as his suspended prison sentence, Loveridge was also asked to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and was disqualified from driving for three years and will have to take an extended driving test before he can drive again.
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