AN OVERTIRED driver who crashed into a scooter when he fell asleep at the wheel of his car near York - causing catastrophic injuries to the teenage rider - has been jailed for 12 months.

York Crown Court heard that Nestlé factory worker Wesley Millar was driving along the A19 at Crockey Hill on a hot day in July 2019 when his vehicle veered straight into the path of a scooter coming in the opposite direction, ridden by 17-year-old Joe Moughan.

Joe, a York College student who was travelling to his girlfriend's, was thrown some 20 metres through the air on to the verge and suffered very severe leg injuries, while his scooter exploded into flames.

He required seven operations,some eight hours long, including one in which doctors had to amputate a leg below the knee after a serious infection had developed.

He told in a victim impact statement how he had experienced pain 'like I have never felt before in my life,' and said: "My life is and always will be different from this day until the day I die."

He said he had cried after doctors told him one morning, without any prior warning and without his family being present, that they were going to have to amputate.

"I was thinking, I am 17 and my life is falling apart through no fault of my own," he said.

The court was told that his life was saved in the crash by protective clothing and an ex-armed forces medic who applied a tourniquet to his leg before paramedics arrived and airlifted him to hospital in Leeds.

Joe said he had a full recall of the crash and suffered flashbacks and struggled to sleep, and his girlfriend had supported him through some 'dark times.'

He said he had formerly had the independent life typical of a 17-year-old and now he was in a 'world of pain,' on a cocktail of drugs, and his mental health had really suffered.

He also experienced problems when using his Blue Badge from the older community, who did not realise his disability.

The court was told that Millar, 33, of The Haven, Selby, who pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, had driven while tired and deprived of sleep.

Victoria Smith-Swaine said in mitigation that,in hindsight, he recognised the risks posed by driving while tired and deprived of sleep and he felt genuine remorse. "He is incredibly remorseful," she said.

She said he would like, one day, to meet Mr Moughan face-to-face and apologise to him, if he agreed to this.

"He has learnt a profound and salutary lesson and will not trouble the courts again," she added.

She also said her client had himself experienced the impact of bad driving, his aunt having been killed 12 years ago when a lorry driver failed to stop on a zebra crossing.

Judge Simon Hickey, jailing Millar for 12 months and disqualifying him from driving for two and a half years, said he was of previously 'impeccable' character, who had shown 'clear remorse.'

However, his behaviour was culpable because he had driven after having had inadequate sleep.