Stevenage car cruise crash: Jail for drivers who veered into bystanders

Nineteen people who had been watching the car cruise event were injured

Two men whose "idiotic desire to show off" led to them crashing their cars into bystanders have been jailed.

Dominic Brown, 23, from St Albans, and Julian Castano Perez, 24, from Dunmow in Essex, pleaded guilty to several charges relating to dangerous driving, at St Albans Crown Court.

The court heard the men had taken part in a car cruise event in Stevenage on 18 July 2019.

Judge Michael Kay said: "These meetings are catastrophes waiting to happen."

The court heard the Cruise Herts gathering involved drivers of high performance cars meeting in a car park in Monkswood Way, Stevenage.

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As well as completing manoeuvres in the car park, drivers would speed along a stretch of Monkswood Way, which has a 40mph (64 km/h) speed limit.

The court heard on the night in question, people were lining the road and stood in the central reservation.

Brown had been performing "donuts" in the car park in his black Toyota GT86 before pulling out on to the road.

Coming up behind at a speed of 63mph (101 km/h) was Perez in a blue Nissan 350z, and the two cars collided.

The court heard the Nissan had veered on to the central reservation, striking spectators.

Brown's Toyota mounted a pavement and hit another group of watchers.

Prosecutor Kate Parker said 19 people were injured, eight seriously.

They had been thrown into the air from the impact, suffering broken limbs, spinal, shoulder and neck injuries and a fractured collar bone.

'Scenes of carnage'

Sentencing the pair, Judge Kay said they had shown an "idiotic desire to show off".

He said car cruise events should be banned to avoid "more scenes of carnage" otherwise there is a risk "people will die and be injured".

Brown and Perez had both pleaded guilty to eight charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and 11 of causing bodily harm by wanton and furious driving.

Brown, of Park Street Lane, St Albans, was jailed for five years.

Perez, of Chelmsford Road, Dunmow in Essex, who had pleaded guilty at an earlier stage, was jailed for four years and eight months.

Correction 29 June 2021: The article was amended to clarify it was Perez who was driving at 63mph.