Judges overturn driving bans on crash policemen

Anthony Hilliard Perkins, 54, and Paul Jason Salvesen, 40, both pleaded guilty to careless driving in relation to the April 2010 crash at Leeds Crown Court in August.

Perkins was fined £500 and Salvesen £400, while both officers were banned from driving for eight months.

Mr Justice Nicol, sitting in London’s Appeal Court yesterday with Lord Justice Davis and Judge Stephen Kramer QC, said the police surveillance drivers, were prosecuted over a collision on the M1 near Sheffield after midnight on April 30 2010.

Fatima Zahoor was at the wheel of her people carrier when Salvesen’s car slammed into it, said Mr Justice Nicol, causing the seven-seater to “spin” on the road.

He was driving at around 90mph before he braked to avoid the collision.

Salvesen, of Church Street, Sheffield, claimed Ms Zahoor’s car was swerving in front of him, the court heard. The prosecution disputed this account but accepted her car was “straddling two lanes”.

Soon after Ms Zahoor’s people carrier was hit by Perkins’ oncoming BMW, which had been travelling at around 91mph before the crash, said the judge.

The impact hurled her 11-year-old son from his seat and across two lanes of the motorway, resulting in head injuries.

“Mercifully neither he nor anyone else was killed,” the judge noted.

Perkins, of Chelsea Rise, Sheffield, and Salvesen, who were both on duty in unmarked cars at the time of the collision, appealed against both their fines and sentences yesterday.

Neither have been able to carry out their role as a police surveillance drivers whilst banned.

Mr Justice Nicol stressed the importance of a post accident report indicating that the collision would still have occurred even if the pair had kept to the 70mph speed limit.

“It cannot be said that these collisions were the result of these (officers) driving at excessive speed,” he told the court.

The judge declined to reduce the pair’s fines but overturned their driving bans, instead imposing five penalty points on each of their licences.