Banned driver facing jail for drunken crash

A drunk driver who mounted the pavement and crashed into a mother and her seven-year-old child has been warned he is facing a prison sentence.

Jamie Hicks, aged 20 and from Tipton, has never passed a driving test and was already banned from the road following another drink driving offence back in 2008, Warley Magistrates Court heard yesterday.

Hicks yesterday pleaded guilty to seven charges after he knocked the pair down in Tipton town centre on February 13, including failing to provide a breath specimen, driving without insurance, driving without due care and attention and without a licence, and driving while disqualified.

He also admitted charges of assaulting two police officers by spitting at them.

The court heard how witnesses saw Hicks, of Owen Street, Tipton, staggering drunk down the road at 3.10pm before getting into a red Fiat Punto and driving off, clipping the kerbs as he went.

Officers followed him to Albion Street, where they found him crashed and at a standstill on the pavement outside the Co-op store.

Prosecuting, Miss Kelly Hale said: "He had collided with two bollards and a mother and her seven-year-old daughter.

"The woman sustained a fractured knee and bruising as a result, while the young girl suffered bruising and swelling. Her mother has also said that her daughter now suffers bad nightmares."

She added: "He says he drank six shots of vodka and drove to Dudley to collect a friend. He can't remember anything else until he woke up in a police cell."

Magistrates were told that the partial reading of breath that Hicks gave showed 107 microgrammes of alcohol in 100mgs of breath, the legal limit is 35.

Magistrate Michael Vaughan warned Hicks he should expect a prison sentence. The case was adjourned until today for a pre sentence report.