Flying car could have killed three people

Wednesday 21 December 2016

A motorist who came close to knocking over three elderly ladies after his vehicle ‘took off’ when he crested the brow of a hill at more than three times the speed limit has been given 120 hours community service, fined £300 and banned for driving for 30 months.

For 20-year-old Marcus Humber – who admitted to police officers he "acted like an idiot when he had friends in his car" – it was the second of two incidents in the same night.

In the first, just before 22:00 on the 18^th June, officers issued him with a warning, after they spotted, and then stopped him, speeding past the gates of St John’s Manor in his lime green Citroen Saxo in excess of the 40mph limit.

Less than two hours later he was in trouble again.

Evidence read out in court from a retired police officer with almost 30 years’ experience, and who used to teach officers driving skills, recounted how he’d been on Belvedere Hill outside the Merton Hotel, when he heard a car racing towards him. It had a noisy exhaust, and although at first he couldn’t see it, he heard it quickly go through the gears as it raced up the hill from Bagot Road.

He then described how he saw the car come over the hill and fly through the air. All four wheels were off the ground and the car landed with such force the witness was surprised all four tyres didn’t burst. The driver then struggled to control the car and the back spun round.

The witness told the court he had to jump out of the way. He thought the car was going to roll, and was surprised no one was killed. He said three elderly ladies who were waiting to cross the road were visibly shocked. Police estimate Humber was driving at around 70mph, in a 20mph zone. 

Sentencing, Magistrate Sarah Fitz told Humber it was, "...lucky no one was killed." She also noted the Belvedere Hill incident came only hours after the police had warned him about his driving. If he’d been older, she told him, "I would probably have sent you to prison."

As it was she hoped he’d learned his lesson - and whilst losing his licence might also lead to him losing his job, the offences were so serious she had no choice but to ban him.