AN 'IDIOT' driver left his teenage passenger paralysed after speeding around Uffington’s White Horse Hill then crashing into a tree, a court has heard.
One of the passengers inside Andrew Bradley’s crashed car later claimed that he was driving at up to 130mph and driving dangerously along the dark rural roads around southern Oxfordshire.
Prosecutors at Oxford Crown Court claim that Bradley’s ‘dangerous’ driving seriously injured two of his three passengers, leaving one in a wheelchair.
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The 28-year-old of Kingfishers, Grove, denies two counts which allege that he caused serious injury to two passengers – Zachariah Gordon and Courtney Howe – by dangerous driving.
As his trial began today prosecutor Iestyn Morgan outlined the case against him before a jury of six men and six women.
He said the crash took place in the early hours of Sunday, October 28, 2018.
Jurors were told that Bradley was driving a Ford Focus together with three passengers before he 'lost control, coming off the road, spinning, and eventually hitting a tree.'
As a result of the crash on the B4507 at Westcot, near Uffington, prosecutors said, two of the teenage passengers suffered 'serious injuries.'
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Mr Morgan said that the injuries sustained by Mr Gordon included spinal fractures and a collapsed lung, and that he was now paralysed from the waist down.
He said that the second passenger, Miss Howe, also sustained a collapsed lung and fractures.
Detailing the build-up to the collision, the jury was told that Bradley had picked up his three passengers to go to a 'car meet' in Abingdon.
He said they later took a trip to Tesco before buying cans of Budweiser and Kopparberg, which 'all four occupants were drinking.'
After a stop at McDonald's they proceeded to drive out towards the ancient monument at White Horse Hill, the area where the collision took place.
The court heard that all three passengers gave their accounts after the incident.
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Mr Morgan said that Bradley was described as driving like an 'absolute idiot' and 'bragging that he was doing 100mph.'
One witness claimed to have seen the speedometer reach a speed of up to 130mph on the unlit, rural road.
Jurors went on to hear that after the car crashed into a tree a taxi driver was the first to come across the scene at about 1.15am.
Bradley was interviewed by police, prosecutors said, and he claimed he was not speeding and was driving between 55 and 60mph.
Mr Morgan said that Bradley denied he was not 'driving to the conditions of the road.'
He went on: "The prosecution say that Bradley was driving far too quickly for the road conditions.
"His standard of driving fell far below that of a careful and competent driver."
The trial - which is expected to last three days - continues.
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