Car insurance news
Boy racers throughout the country have been giving a stark warning after magistrates jailed a young motorist who crashed into a lamppost after tearing through a town centre at speeds of more than 70mph.
21-year-old Lee Holmes was caged for four months, banned for a year and ordered to retake his test after pleading guilty to dangerous driving and failing to stop after an accident. Also realising that cheap car insurance will be hard to come by in the future, the Cheshire-based DJ turned white as his sentence was read out.
The court heard how Holmes, appearing in the DJ booth as Ginger Pigeon, offered a female work colleague a lift home after finishing their shifts at Macclesfield's Chicago Rock Café. On the way he saw some friends in another car and they decided to have a race, giving his passenger no choice in the matter.
Attempting to navigate a roundabout at nearly 70mph, whilst also fiddling with his stereo, Holmes' steering wheel locked and he collided with a lamppost, causing his passenger to smash her head on the dashboard. His 'opponent' in the race offered to take the slightly injured girl to hospital and Holmes left the scene and went home.
Ruth Choyce, defending, pleaded for the bench to be lenient and said, "The actions of that day are very much out of character- and he is aware that arranging a race is a very stupid thing to do.
"He will pay for his actions with an increase in car insurance and there is no sentence greater than the way his father feels about what his son has done."
Ms Choyce is spot on thinking that Ginger Pigeon's motor insurance will rocket. With a conviction for dangerous driving, even a specialist young driver car insurance firm will be forced to charge him a sizeable price for a premium.