'Immature' teen driver careers into pedestrians at 'illegal' car meet near M1

A teenage driver crashed into three pedestrians when he lost control of his car while speeding and “showing off” at an illegal car meet. Nottingham Crown Court heard how Harrison Cudworth “used a public road as a racetrack” when one of his victims was “thrown into a thorn bush,” and suffered a broken pelvis after the BMW he was driving struck her as she watched the cars.

The 19-year-old, who was 18 at the time, stayed at the scene, approached a female police officer and told her “it’s my fault, I was skidding and showing off”. And the A Level student his car hit spent a number of days in hospital and has had to give up on her dreams of going to university as a consequence.

Sending him to youth detention for two years and two months, Judge Steven Coupland said: “The really frightening thing about this is that you have no control over the seriousness of the injuries you caused because you were out of control. Even as an immature 18-year-old you must have known what you were doing was foolish and highly-dangerous. You used a public road as a racetrack.

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“She spent more than a week in hospital with a fractured pelvis and the effects on her, not just physical but mental, were huge. She could not walk as a result, suffered muscle wasting and gained weight which affected her self-esteem.

“Everybody in life makes thousands of decisions each day and this is an example of one person making a very bad decision on that day.”

Jonathan Dunne, prosecuting, said the incident took place on the A608 Mansfield Road, close to junction 27 of the M1, near Annesley, on January 14, 2023. He said while two cars approached the roundabout and successfully carried out what is called a “drift” or skidding manoeuvre, the defendant’s series 1 BMW didn’t and he struck three people who were watching the cars “70 to 100 yards on” from the traffic island.

The prosecutor said: “All there had attended what was, quite frankly, an illegal motor car meet. This defendant was the third person to try and carry out the drift manoeuvre but lost control of the vehicle, went across a grass verge and hit three people who were standing there watching.

“While two of them, thankfully, only suffered soft tissue damage, the third was not so lucky. She was forced into a thorn bush and suffered a fractured pelvis. To his credit, the moment the police arrived, he walked over to the female officer, identified himself and said ‘it is my fault, I was showing off’.”

Mr Dunne read a victim impact statement made by the woman 11 months after the crash. In it, she told how she had been studying A levels at college while working at Tesco but “struggled” after the incident and did not complete them or go to university.

Cudworth, of Ash Grove. Sutton-in-Ashfield, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Almas Ben-Aribia, mitigating, said her client has no previous convictions of any kind and lost his job as a courier as a result of the incident. She said: “This defendant is sorry for all the pain he has caused to the victim and her family.

“He has had a lot of time to reflect on what he did and has struggled with that. This was an illegal car meet and no-one, including the victim, should have been there.”

As well as the jail term, the judge disqualified Cudworth from driving for three years and eight months. Nottinghamshire Live has contacted Nottinghamshire Police requesting the custody photography of the defendant and is awaiting a response.