William Houghton, 18, only passed his test 6 months ago, and had only had his Citroen Saxo for two weeks, when he lost control of his car driving at “about 50mph” (his own words) and injured two of his passengers. Both were hospitalised.
Houghton, who admitted driving without due care and attention on June 7, had passed his test six months earlier and had only had the Citroen for two weeks.
Houghton told the court he was very sorry for what he had done, thought he had been driving at about 50mph and put the accident down to inexperience.
Magistrates were suckered right in, and “applied discretion” in awarding him only 5 points, instead of 6, so that he wouldn’t be automatically banned and forced to take his test again. He was fined a total of over £300.
I’m sorry, but it’s a complete joke. There are new drivers out there who really do deserve a break, and yet don’t get one. But for luck, Houghton could have been apologising for killing two passengers. He had played out the new driver accident script to the letter.