A new driver took her friend's car out to buy cigarettes before crashing into a petrol station and leaving an innocent man in hospital. Tehya Lee was driving on the A48 near Cowbridge last year when she overtook another car before veering off the main road and into the Esso petrol station forecourt – smashing into a petrol pump and narrowly avoiding a man who was filling his car before speeding out the other side of the station.
The force of her driving sent Clayton Borek flying back into his car leaving him "covered in blood" and with multiple injuries, a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court was told. Jac Brown, prosecuting, said witness Jennifer Hopkins had been driving with her two children in the car on the A48 on on August 14, 2021, at around 50-55mph when Lee overtook her at a "considerable speed" in her friend's blue BMW.
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"She described seeing the vehicle moving into the same lane and then veering off towards the petrol station. There was no application of the brakes or any attempt to slow down," he said, adding that Ms Hopkins was a doctor and believed Lee might have been having a medical episode.
The court was shown CCTV footage which showed the car Lee was driving hitting the petrol pump being used by Mr Borek, sending him flying into his car, and narrowly missing another man before continuing out the other end of the forecourt and coming to a stop across the road. Mr Brown said a slight raise in the entrance to the station had briefly caused the car to become airborne. He said witnesses at the station reported seeing people crowd around Mr Borek who was "covered in blood" and they had described the sound of the car as "like a high-speed train" such was its speed. Mr Borek was taken to hospital and sustained swelling to his hands and ankle and a laceration to his head.
Mr Brown said that when police spoke to Lee, 23, of Penmaen Walk, Ely, Cardiff, she said she had been at a friend's house and had taken his car after being asked to get cigarettes. The court was also shown body-worn footage of police speaking to Lee after the incident when she appeared distressed about what had happened and said she had lost control of the car, adding: "F*** knows what I hit."
Chris Evans, mitigating, said Lee was a relatively new driver who had got her full licence just three months before the incident. He added that her friend's car was an automatic, which she had not driven before and was not experienced with.
"It's shocking footage when you view it not least to Ms Lee herself. It's fortunate that the injuries were not more serious," he said. "Clearly not being used to driving this vehicle had an impact in what can be described as a gross misjudgement in driving."
He said Ms Lee was "utterly sickened" by what she had done and had suffered PTSD in the months after the incident, including an attempted overdose. He said she had not been under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time and had pleaded guilty to a single charge of dangerous driving at an initial hearing in Merthyr on April 22 at which point she had been given an interim driving disqualification.
Judge Shomon Khan said the incident was "truly shocking" having watched the footage. "It could have led to catastrophic, life-changing injuries or, even worse, fatalities." He said it was "miraculous" that no-one had been killed and said the way the defendant had crashed into the petrol station had created a "substantial risk of very serious harm", adding that both Mr Borek's car and the one Lee was driving were damaged and that bystanders in the footage looked visibly shocked.
"You clearly drove too quickly for the conditions with a vehicle that you had no experience of driving. As a new driver driving that vehicle you should have been extremely careful."
However the judge said Lee had been visibly "devastated" when she realised Mr Borek had been injured and said he was minded to take account of her personal circumstances, which included caring for her elderly parents and her own ongoing health issues.
Ms Lee was given an eight-month jail sentence suspended for 18 months and 120 hours of unpaid work. She was also disqualified from driving for two and a half years from the date of her interim disqualification on April 22 this year. She must also pay a £420 in prosecution costs and a £156 surcharge.
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