Drink driving dad smashed car into lorry with 3-year-old in back in Chesterfield

Police have released CCTV footage of the moment a drink driver ploughed into a lorry after a high-speed race through Chesterfield – with his three-year-old son and partner in his car.

Declan Webster lost control of his Toyota Corolla after speeding against two other drivers at speeds of 84mph.

Webster, along with brothers Michael and Robert Bower, had spent several hours in a beer garden before driving off in their vehicles and racing each other in Brimington Road North in August 2020.

• The video shows the men drinking before the crash, touching their noses to prove their sobriety and colliding their cars into one another in the pub car park. They are then seen racing before the crash and then fleeing the scene

Webster, 33, of Spital Lane, Chesterfield, had the young boy and partner in his car when he smashed into the lorry at Whittington Moor roundabout.

None of them were injured.

The drivers all fled but were later arrested and charged with dangerous driving.

They all pleaded guilty at Derby Crown Court.

Webster was jailed for 16 months. Robert Bower, 33, of Hindley Road, Chesterfield, was jailed for 14 months, while Michael Bower, 28, of Corner Pin Close, Staveley, was sentenced to 12 months. All three were banned from driving.

PC Stu Smith, of Derbyshire Constabulary's Roads Policing Unit, branded the men "arrogant and irresponsible". He said: "It is pure luck that no-one was seriously hurt, or killed, in this incident.

"All three men behaved extremely recklessly, putting their own lives and the lives of others at risk.

"Declan Webster’s apparent disregard for the safety of his young son and partner, who were passengers in his car is particularly shocking."