Danger driver smashed into family car at a red light in Hartlepool after taking cocktail of drugs

Jonathan Hay, 35, had taken cocaine and diazepam when he crashed his Ford Fiesta into a woman’s Suzuki Swift in Hartlepool on January 30.

The woman, who was driving her 80 year old grandmother and four-year-old grandchild, escaped with shock and bruises in the crash at the junction of Hart Lane and Jesmond Road, Hartlepool.

Hay had a previous conviction in 2002 for driving with excess alcohol, said prosecutor Emma Atkinson.

Matthew Collin, defending, told Teesside Crown Court that Hay was going through a maelstrom of emotion over his two children from a previous relationship and the death of his grandmother.

He lost his job previously and he was spending money on drugs, but since his arrest he had given up drugs and he had sought help from the Hartlepool Response Team.

Mr Collin added: “His partner speaks of a very different man, who his sister describes as decent, hardworking and family orientated.

“He works for an engineering firm in Hartlepool, and that job supports two children with his previous partner and the unborn baby.

“He has done all he can to change his lifestyle.”

Judge James Spencer QC told Hay: “You have been through a phase of severe selfishness, you thought that the whole world was against you.

“So you took cocaine and diazepam ... and then jumped into the car and drove into another car.

“It’s no surprise to me that the other motorist you collided with was upset by that. She was shaken very badly, and yet you knew that all of your family would rally round and write you a letter, and everybody would say ‘Poor, poor Jonathan Hay’, but there has to be a time of reckoning and that time is now.”

Hay, of Tiverton Grove, Hartlepool, was given a 12 months jail sentence suspended for two years and disqualified for three years and until he passes an extended driving test after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving under the influence of drugs, failing to stop and no insurance.