Rugby man did not learn his lesson after he avoided jail for leaving a woman in agony when he crashed into her

A speeding driver did not learn his lesson after he escaped being jailed for leaving a woman in pain for the rest of her life when he ploughed into her car at a T-junction.

While still subject to a suspended prison sentence and banned from driving for that incident, Gurdeep Notay was caught driving dangerously again, a judge has heard.

Notay (33) of Houlton Way, Rugby, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and having no insurance.

The court heard that on September 27 Notay, previously of Lawford Road, Lawford Heath, had been caught driving a VW Touran dangerously along Newton Manor Lane and Crowthorns in Rugby.

At the time he was subject to a sentence of 21 months in prison suspended for two years which had been imposed in December 2018 for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Judge Anthony Potter adjourned the case for information to be obtained about that ‘highly relevant’ earlier incident, and remanded Notay in custody.

In 2018 Coventry Crown Court had heard that a woman had been left trapped and in agony after Notay, who had already hit a police car moment earlier, fled from the scene after ploughing into her car at a T-junction.

Yet despite the two collisions and his callous behaviour, he escaped being jailed and was not even ordered to pay his victim any compensation, even though he was in work at the time.

Prosecutor Graeme Simpson had said that at around midday on Sunday September 2, 2018, a police car was on the outskirts of the village of Shilton, as an officer kept an eye on a Ford Focus.

The officer then saw the Focus being overtaken on a bend by a large and powerful Audi Q7 4-wheel drive SUV at great speed, doing what the officer estimated to be 90mph.

The Audi, driven by Notay, was swerving from left to right, and struck the police car, which was part-way out from a junction, ‘a glancing blow.’

Without slowing down, Notay carried on into Shilton along Wood Lane, continuing to drive at high speed even after entering the 30mph zone in the village as another officer pursued him.

Meanwhile Debbie Ratcliffe was driving her Mini towards the village along the B4029 in the direction of Bulkington.

As she reached the T-junction with Wood Lane, where Notay should have stopped and given way, the Q7, almost twice the weight of her car, shot out from the junction into the front of the Mini.

The Q7 carried on in a straight line, spinning the Mini 90 degrees, and both cars ended up as though they were parked next to each-other, at right-angles to the carriageway.

Leaving Ms Ratcliffe trapped and injured in her car, as people living nearby rushed to help her, Notay ‘decamped and ran,’ but was found hiding nearby and arrested.

He said he had tried to avoid the police car by swerving, and had then panicked after hitting it, said Mr Simpson, who pointed out that the front tyres of the borrowed Audi were both below the legal tread limit, with one so bad it was delaminating.

Ms Ratcliffe had suffered injuries including a broken and dislocated ankle, for which she had to undergo an operation – and according to a consultant she ‘may always have a degree of pain.’

In a statement, Ms Ratcliffe, who has ‘shooting pains’ when she tries to walk, said: “The driver of the Audi initially tried to blame me. He ran away, which is a selfish thing to do. He had no consideration for me, and left me trapped in my vehicle.”

Philip Bradley QC, defending, said: “Debbie Ratcliffe was an innocent person going about her daily business. He accepts fully he is responsible for serious injuries to a completely blameless lady.”

Mr Bradley added that Notay had ‘a plethora of character references,’ and worked hard for modest wages to support his wife, and two children, with a third on the way.

Sentencing Notay, Recorder Anupama Thompson had told him: “You are a man who has behaved irresponsibly, but I don’t see why your two children and one on the way should pay the penalty for that. It is only because of the effect it would have on your children that I have taken this course.”