Crash driver jailed after hiding medical condition from DVLA

A driver who failed to tell licensing officials about a serious medical condition has been jailed after causing an accident that left a young boy with life-changing injuries.

Jason Sweeney was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting causing serious injury through dangerous driving and failing to notify the DVLA of a disability.

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Sweeney didn’t disclose that he suffered seizures despite being advised to do so as long ago as 2012.

In July last year he crashed his Audi into a garden, running over two children and leaving one of them with life-changing injuries.

He told emergency crews who attended the scene he “must have had a fit or blacked out”.

Required to surrender licence

Prosecutor Roger Griffins told Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court that Sweeney had started experiencing fits in 2012 and was advised not to drive until his health issues were resolved.

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However, he carried on driving and failed to tell the DVLA of his condition for fear of having to surrender his licence.

The DVLA can suspend a driving licence if a motorist’s medical condition is likely to affect their ability to drive safely. It has a list of almost 200 conditions that drivers are required to notify it of.

Failing to notify the DVLA of a medical condition carries a fine of up to £1,000 and, as in Sweeney’s case, can lead to prosecution if you’re involved in an accident caused by your condition.

Selfish interests

Sweeney, 31 of Merthyr Tydfil, was also banned from driving for four and a half year and must prove he is medically fit before being allowed to drive.

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Sentencing him, Judge Geraint Walters said: “You chose to drive after you had been told more than once that you were liable to have a fit. You deliberately failed to tell the DVLA because you knew your licence would be revoked.

“Effectively you were duping them by putting your selfish interests first. Now look what has happened. It is pure luck, and only pure luck, that the court is not dealing with the death of a child.”