A DRIVER has been banned after he caused 86-year-old pensioner life changing injuries in a head-on crash.

Nathaniel Pound tried to drive between two lines of traffic at almost twice the 30mph speed limit on a single carriageway road and crashed on a hump back bridge on Newton Road in Kingsteignton.

He scraped against a van before smashing head on into a Jaguar driven by Vanessa Matthews with her mother Sheila Byrne in the passenger seat.

The force of the impact was so great that Pound’s Alfa-Romeo skidded 15 to 20 metres away, narrowly missing a jogger on the pavement who had to jump out of its path.

He got out and went back to the crash scene where he tried to blame Mrs Matthews for the accident and was seen behaving bizarrely, climbing onto the parapet of the bridge at one point.

Police recovered a small bag of cannabis from his car and a blood test showed he had been smoking the drug, although the level of the active substance THC was below the legal limit.

The crash closed the A383 for several hours in the afternoon of September 23 last year and led to traffic gridlock that spread and clogged the main A 380 Exeter to Torbay road.

Mrs Byrne suffered cracked ribs and shoulder and a knee injury which needed 12 days of hospital treatment and has left her needing to walk with a stick.

She wrote a personal statement which said: ‘I had been a happy, healthy, fit lady enjoying my retirement but have lost it because of one man’s selfish behaviour.’

Her daughter is still suffering pain from neck and back injuries.

She read out her personal statement which said: ‘Our relationship has changed from mother and daughter to mother and carer.

‘She is almost frightened of her own shadow.

‘Life has been turned upside down for her and for our family.’

Pound, aged 32, of Haddeo Drive, Exeter, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving and was jailed for 18 months, suspended for two years, and banned from driving for three years and until passing an extended re-test.

He was also ordered to do 140 hours unpaid work and 20 days of rehabilitation activities by Recorder Mr Mathew Turner at Exeter Crown Court.

He said he was taking into consideration psychiatric reports which said Pound was suffering from an unexpected onset of bi-polar disorder which induced a manic episode shortly before the crash.

He told Pound: ‘A bag of cannabis was found on the floor of your car and tests showed the presence of cannabis in your blood, but not at a such a level as to establish impairment.

‘Your driving created a bad risk of danger and you drove in an obvious dangerous manner. Mrs Byrne’s injuries were not life threatening but have had a significant impact on her day to day life.

‘I accept you are genuinely remorseful for your appalling driving that day.’

Mr Jason Beale, prosecuting, said the moment of impact was filmed by cameras on a Tesco delivery van which Pound clipped just before the crash.

The footage showed him speeding in the narrow gap between two lines of traffic before hitting the Jaguar on the hump-backed bridge.

His speed was estimated to be 50 – 60mph in a 30mph limit and his car was thrown 15 to 20 metres, narrowly missing a pedestrian who had to jump out of the way.

He behaved strangely at the scene and later told police the Jaguar had ‘come out of nowhere’ and that he thought his car could fly over it.

Mr Paul Dentith, defending, said Pound is an economics graduate who worked as a quantity surveyor until his mental health deteriorated after the death of his mother in 2019.

He had been diagnosed with bi-polar in 2020 but had no warning of the manic episode which started just before the crash and led to his dangerous driving and bizarre behaviour.

Mr Dentith said Pound was sectioned after the accident and twice more in the next six weeks but has succeeded in stabilising his mental health in the months since.