A social care manageress was left fighting for life after a dozing drunk driver ploughed into her car while under the influence of powerful prescription painkillers. Fiona Gibson, 51, was with her disabled husband Paul in the family Ford Focus when restauranteur Neil Cameron, 42, veered into their path and smashed head on into them.
Chester Crown Court heard as he clambered out of the wreckage of his Volvo XC90 – as other drivers to stopped to help the injured Gibsons – he opened his car bot and drank cans of 6.4 per cent Buxton Brewery IPA. Driver Mrs Gibson, from Middlewich, Cheshire, suffered a fractured skull, a brain injury and fractures to every limb. She had to be airlifted to hospital and was in an induced coma for three weeks.
The mother-of-one’s husband – who lost a leg to cancer – has been diagnosed with PTSD following the smash. Police who examined Cameron’s car found tramadol inside with express warnings not to drive if drowsy or take with alcohol.
Now Cameron, of Sandbach, Cheshire, has been jailed for two-and-a-half years after admitting causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He was earlier convicted of drink-driving and driving while unfit through drugs.
He told police he had just handed in his notice as manager of a bar and was on his way home to his wife and been drinking due to the stress of managing a “failing business.”
Describing her ordeal Mrs Gibson said: “The impact of this collision on my family has been massive.
“I suffered fractures from head to toe, spent nearly three weeks in a coma and as a result lost all my dignity and was totally dependent on everyone around me.
“My family had to sit at the bedside for days not knowing if I would make it. It broke my heart to think what they had to go through, the devastation the crash caused to everyone.
“I also suffered a brain injury which meant that I do not remember anything about the crash and it takes me half the morning just to get up, washed and dressed.
“I have sometimes thought of whether I should be here and I get upset at how it has affected my husband and my son.
“Paul is a wreck and constantly scared of me getting hurt when I’m in the car. He initially thought I was dead. He now has the most awful PTSD and this has changed him and the way he lives his life.
“I love my job of 30 years in social car but there is no chance of doing that job like I did before. I only need to look at a few letters and I cannot think what to do with them.
“It’s sad how my life has changed and it was not my fault. I only hope that people realise the upset and devastation that they have caused by their actions and how it can change people’s lives.”
Mr Gibson, who suffered severe bruising in the crash said: “I hear noise of the collision, the sirens, the helicopter, and my wife screaming in pain.
“I waited for hours to be told of her injuries and having to be put in a coma. Seeing her lying there is so awful. I feel so lost. Fiona does everything for us.”
The crash occurred at 1.45pm on April 13, 2024 as Mr and Mrs Gibson were travelling along the A534 Sandbach Road near Congleton to visit his mother in a care home.
Prosecutor Peter Hussey said: “Shortly before the collision a motorist driving his car next behind the defendant’s Volvo saw it drift slowly into the centre of the road then correct itself. He then saw the Volvo again drift and this time go over the centre line with its wheels straddling it.
“They were moving on a straight stretch of road at about 45 mph when the Volvo suddenly and sharply moved fully onto the opposite side of the road.
“The Gibsons who were driving in the opposite direction had nowhere to go to avoid a heavy collision causing injuries to both especially Mrs Gibson who was left screaming in pain.
“Another motorist saw the defendant go to the boot of his car and begin drinking from a fresh beer can which he opened using a ring-pull.
“She saw other beer cans, some of which were empty, inside the open boot. She heard the defendant repeatedly saying, ‘What have I done?’ as he walked around the side and back of the Volvo and she smelled alcohol from him.
“She saw his face was red already, and considered he looked drunk. She spoke to him, challenging him why he was drinking, to which she heard the defendant reply to her, ‘I’ve only had this one – just one beer’.
“A third motorist who stopped saw the defendant reach to the beer packs, get a can and take two hefty mouthfuls. He told the defendant he shouldn’t be doing that as he would need to be breathalysed but got no reply.
“He appeared unconcerned about the other vehicle and its occupants.”
Police found two opened cans of IPA in the boot of the Volvo – one empty and the other half-empty. Tests showed Cameron had up to 58 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 35mg. Traces of codeine and tramadol were found in his system.
Inquiries revealed Cameron had sent a WhatsApp message to his boss just 40 minutes before the collision saying he wished to resign with immediate effect, as he “no longer felt supported in his role.”
The court heard Cameron had a previous conviction for drink driving from 2013.
His lawyer Gwyn Lewis said: “He had fallen asleep at the wheel. He is terribly sorry for the incident and cannot possibly imagine what the victims have had to go through.
“He had been to the doctor to say that he was struggling to sleep but was not told by the doctor not to drive. Had he been told he would not have driven. He was prescribed tramadol as he suffers from sciatica.”
Cameron was also banned from driving for five years which will come into force when he is freed.
Judge Patrick Thompson told him: “You took a dreadful selfish decision to drive the vehicle after you had been drinking alcohol and also taking prescription tramadol and the consequences have been catastrophic.
“It does not take a doctor to tell someone that Tramadol can aggravate tiredness. It says that on the box.
“In these circumstances, other than walking around with a loaded gun, a car is about the most dangerous thing you can have.”
