Shortsighted taxi driver wins appeal over dangerous driving conviction

A shortsighted taxi driver who hit a young man as he walked along a poorly lit country lane has won his appeal against a conviction for dangerous driving.

Father-to-be Jack Brandon died after Abul Hussain hit him as he walked home in the middle of the night along New Road in Ditchling.

Hussain, 55, did not stop or report the collision, and when police tracked him down following a media appeal a few days later, told officers he thought he had hit a deer or a sheep.

However, an accident report found that because of the road layout, the lack of lighting and the fact Mr Brandon was walking in the left hand lane, no driver would have been able to avoid hitting him.

He could therefore not be charged with causing death by dangerous driving, but was instead charged with dangerous driving, as well as failing to stop and failing to report an accident. He was found guilty of all three charges by Brighton magistrates after a trial in October last year.

Yesterday, a judge at Lewes Crown Court upheld his appeal against the dangerous driving conviction, as Hussain’s driving itself was not inherently dangerous.

However, he dismissed an appeal against the failing to stop and failing to report charges.

Judge Mark van der Zwart said: “I suspect that most people in learning that somebody with highly defective vision had made the deliberate decision to drive without corrective lenses would consider to do that would amount to dangerous driving in law.

“This is a case where there’s no evidence that the respondents intended to be set before the court of any manouevring of the vehicle – the driving of the car – which in itself would obviously be dangerous.

“This entire conviction revolves on whether the mere fact of getting into a car to drive it without corrected vision is sufficient to amount to dangerous driving.”

He said that there had been two cases at the Court of Appeal and the High Court where this issue had been considered, and both agreed it was not sufficient.

He said: “The mere state of the driver without any evidence of the driving of the vehicle itself in a way which could be considered dangerous is not sufficient in law. This appeal against conviction or dangerous driving is allowed.”

In ruling on the other part of the appeal, he took Hussain’s assertion he believed he had hit an animal at face value, but said that even then, he was required to stop and to report, and so had committed the other two offences.

During the trial, Hussain said that he had got into the habit of not wearing his glasses during covid, when wearing a mask meant his lenses would steam up.

Hussain, who lived in Stapley Road, in Hove, at the time of the crash but has since moved to Downside Road, in Shoreham, will now be sentenced by Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Friday 12 July, when he may also face an alternate charge of careless driving.

He was given an interim driving ban following last year’s conviction, which is still in force.

About a dozen of Mr Brandon’s family and friends have attended nearly every hearing in both magistrates and crown court.

There have been nine hearings at Brighton Magistrates’ Court and two at Lewes Crown Court. Most have not been able to proceed on the day because of a lack of interpreter for Hussain.

Yesterday’s hearing was delayed for two hours as an interpreter had not been booked and one booked at the last minute needed time to travel to court.