Young driver inhaled laughing gas moments before serious crash on outskirts of Hartlepool

Tyler Jackson, 22, inhaled nitrous oxide from balloons while driving a white VW Polo carrying three friends near Billingham.

They feared for their lives as Jackson swerved all over the road before colliding with another vehicle coming in the opposite direction.

He and his friends suffered serious injuries including multiple fractures, while the driver of the other vehicle was lucky to walk away with “moderate” injuries.

Teesside Crown Court heard Jackson had been inhaling the gas “throughout the day” and was driving on Seaton Carew Road after spending the afternoon at Seaton Carew.

But prosecutor Peter Sabiston described how he was swerving all over the road and missed his intended turning on the A1185 roundabout before taking a sharp left.

Mr Sabiston said: “He left the road at at least 40 miles per hour and accelerated in the middle of the road.

"At this point the collision occurred.”

The driver of the vehicle did everything he could to avoid the collision but witnesses said it was “inevitable”.

Jackson’s front seat passenger suffered two fractures of his spine and said of the incident: “The crash could have killed us”.

One of his friends in the back suffered a fractured jaw, cheekbone and needed 30 stitches for cuts to his face leaving him permanently scarred.

The other received severe bruising to his ribs, whiplash and aggravated a previous knee injury.

Jackson, of Cotsford Park Estate, Horden, was left with whiplash and a fractured spine that saw him spend five months in a neck brace.

He was jailed for two years after he pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving in the incident on 8 October 2022.

Judge Francis Laird told Jackson: “Inexplicably, as you were actually driving the vehicle, you were inhaling nitrous oxide from balloons.”

He added: “Due to the appalling driving, only an immediate custodial sentence can be justified in this case.”

Paul Abrahams, defending, said in mitigation that Jackson was of previous good character and prison would have a “great impact” upon him.

Jackson was also disqualified from driving for three years.