Shocking CCTV footage shows the moment a couple were flung from their motorbike when a car on the wrong side of the road careered into them in a head-on collision.
Motorcyclists Richard and Alison Amner were almost killed by driver Matthew Bell who was found to have drugs in his system as he sped along Ferry Road in Kidwelly on July 16 this year. The distressing footage, obtained by S4C's Y Byd ar Bedwar and being broadcast on Monday, November 28 a 8pm, shows the moment of impact and Alison being flung into the air and over a wall.
Bell - who tested positive for cocaine and cannabis - had previous driving convictions. Alison hit out at his 30-month sentence and said "things need to change". The couple have been in wheelchairs ever since the crash four months ago and now rely on their 29-year-old daughter for care.
Matthew Bell was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment at Swansea Crown Court after admitting causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving whilst unfit through drugs, driving without a licence and driving without insurance. Bell will serve half in prison with the other half on licence.
“The convictions that he’s had, he’s done it more than once, over 60 odd convictions and still continuing to drive the road and this is what he did," said Alison, 55, talking to S4C's Y Byd ar Bedwar. “It needs to change. He’ll be able to get up, he’ll be able to get washed and dressed, he’ll have food handed to him. It’s just not enough."
The Welsh language programme follow the Amner family, who live in Carmarthenshire, as they continue to struggle to adapt to their life-changing injuries. Alison was thrown eight feet into the air and landed on a garden wall, while her husband suffered a triple open fracture of his femur. Four months after the collision, the pair still require the use of a wheelchair and daily visits from carers.
The couple have undergone more than 20 blood transfusions and said there were times they feared for their lives.
“There were stages I didn’t think coming home would happen,” says 58-year-old Richard. While Alison added: "I have a pin and plate in the leg, I have a plate in my hand, I broke my finger, my nose, nine ribs and a punctured lung.
“We were so used to doing everything ourselves and now we rely on other people to do things for us. Like washing us, making food for us, helping put clothes on, brushing my hair. My hand doesn’t work like it used to. And that’s what’s painful, not being able to do what I used to do with my hand.”
Their 29-year-old daughter Jody, who now cares for her parents at her home in Carmarthenshire, said: "I never thought in my 20s I’d be caring for my parents." She spoke to WalesOnline in September and described how her parents were in hospitals 70 miles apart during their treatment for their terrible injuries.
Richard and Alison’s own house is now undergoing major renovations to adapt to their injuries, including installing a wet room near the kitchen. A fundraising campaign has also been set up to support the couple, especially as they are unable to work following the accident.
Y Byd ar Bedwar found that between January 2021 and September 2022, a total of 2,154 arrests were made in the Dyfed-Powys Police area for driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Meanwhile, South Wales Police reported 1,281 arrests, North Wales Police made 2,972 and Gwent Police had 2,251.
The Amners are now calling for tougher prison sentences for drivers who seriously injure while under the influence of drink or drugs. The family’s local MP, Nia Griffith, raised the case to the Secretary of State for Justice, Dominic Raab, in Parliament on November 22 and said: After local couple had horrific, life-changing injuries when a drug driver hit their motorbike head-on, I fully understand why they're distraught at perpetrator only getting 30 month sentence, so today I called for much tougher sentences."
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Dangerous driving puts lives at risk which is why we increased the maximum penalty for causing death by dangerous driving from 14 years to life imprisonment. Judges decide sentences following guidelines set by the independent Sentencing Council. They recently consulted on changes to motoring offence sentencing, including causing serious injury by dangerous driving.”
You can watch the full programme, Y Byd ar Bedwar, at 8pm, 28 November on S4C and S4C Clic ( https://www.s4c.cymru/clic/ ). The programme has English subtitles.
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