Photo released after head-on collision near Mayfield: ‘careless driver’ gets four-month suspended prison sentence

Police said Joshua Keen was driving in a white Peugeot Partner van on the A267 on January 16, 2023.

Police said the ‘careless driver’ caused the collision that left himself and another motorist seriously injured.

A Sussex Police spokesperson said: "He drove onto the wrong side of the road and collided with a Hyundai. His dashcam footage showed him driving erratically in the moments before the crash.”

Police said the court heard how the incident happened at Mark Cross near Mayfield and the Kent border, adding that the A267 was closed for several hours while officers and emergency services responded to the incident.

A Sussex Police spokesperson said: “The collision caused both him and a 43-year-old local woman to sustain life-changing injuries. Keen, 24, a factory worker of Queens Road, Maidstone, was not able to explain how he had ended up causing the head-on collision. At Lewes Crown Court on April 18 he admitted causing serious injuries by careless driving. He was sentenced to a four-month suspended prison sentence, and has been banned from driving for one year.”

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Sussex Police released a statement from the victim who they said spent several weeks recovering at Brighton’s Royal Sussex County Hospital and is still receiving rehabilitation. She said: “Keen’s manner of driving has caused me life-changing injuries, which has impacted not only me but my family as well. It is clear that any motorist driving on the road needs to pay attention all of the time as the consequences can be devastating.”

Police said dashcam footage recovered from Keen’s vehicle shows his vehicle ‘weaving within his own carriageway’ and ‘almost mounting the grass verge’ on several occasions, as well as going over the centre white lines separating north and southbound traffic, in the minutes before the collision.

PC Richard Brand from the Roads Policing Unit said after the case: “Driving any vehicle on the road is a privilege that comes with the responsibility for all motorists to drive with proper care and attention. Any lapse in concentration, whether that is through tiredness or being distracted can have profound consequences.”