Wrong-way drunk driver who caused crash jailed

A drunk driver who caused a serious head-on crash after she drove the wrong way down a dual carriageway has been jailed.

Amelia King, 22, from Horley, Surrey, ignored 'no entry' signs on the A2011 Crawley Avenue exit slip road and travelled for more than half a mile (1.25km) before her white Kia Rio crashed with a black Nissan Leaf, Sussex Police said.

The driver of the other vehicle told the court she was lucky to be alive, while the judge at King's sentencing described her as “utterly stupid and utterly dangerous”, the force added.

King was imprisoned for two years and eight months at Lewes Crown Court after admitting causing serious injury by dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol.

Officers said several other drivers passed King and narrowly avoided a collision with her before the crash, which happened shortly before midnight on 19 April.

King was taken to hospital with a broken ankle.

A test found she had no less than 92 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood in her system. The legal limit is 80 milligrams.

A 23-year-old woman from Crawley, who was a passenger in King's car, needed surgery after breaking her jaw, rib, arm and back in the crash, police said.

In her victim personal statement, which was read out in court, she said: "As much as I put on a brave face and smile, deep down this accident has absolutely destroyed me."

The driver of the Nissan, a 48-year-old woman from Horsted Keynes, suffered a broken rib and blunt trauma to her abdomen.

"I hope you will have seen the damage caused to my vehicle to understand how lucky I am to have survived this accident," she said in her statement.

"I can honestly say that my life will never return to what it was."

King was also disqualified from driving for five years and four months.

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