'I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best': Winchester man rammed off M3 by drug driver

  • ITV News Meridian's Alice Knight spoke to Lee Tosswill about the crash

A Hampshire man whose car was purposefully rammed off the road by a driver high on drugs and alcohol says he’s scared of getting back behind the wheel.Lee Tosswill from Winchester was driving on the M3 in June last year when his car was hit by a BMW, whose driver targeted multiple vehicles in a 30 mile rampage.Lee said he was forced into oncoming traffic and crashed into the barrier of the hard shoulder.

He said: "I could see this car just coming directly into the side of me and it was a bit weird because he just had this smirk on his face and then the next thing he drove straight into my car."I just remember my car spinning out. I was facing the oncoming traffic on the motorway and I thought that was it, so I shut my eyes and was hoping for the best."

Gavin Bathurst-Shaw-Binning has been jailed for nine years for dangerous driving on the M3. Credit: Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary

After crashing into the hard shoulder barrier, Lee couldn’t move and had a shooting pain from the bottom of his back upwards. He was rushed to Southampton General Hospital.Lee said: "I ended up with swelling on the back of my head, the retina in my left eye was detaching and I had severe whiplash, so I have been going through physiotherapy now.

"I've been having acupuncture, been having shocks sent to my head to try reduce the swelling because all of my nerves at the back are trapped. It’s caused me migraines, there's days I can’t even get out of bed, it makes me really ill."

Lee was just one of the victims of Gavin Bathurst-Shaw-Binning who swerved in and out of lanes and deliberately crashed into what he called 'bad drivers'.

A court heard how Bathurst-Shaw-Binning used his car as a weapon, driving at speeds of up to 130mph.

The 46-year-old son of an aristocrat, who viewed himself as the 'enforcer of good driving', has been jailed for nine years.

A court heard how Bathurst-Shaw-Binning had been drinking beer and taking cocaine and cannabis.

He then used his car as a weapon and drove at speeds up to 130 miles per hour from Chertsey in Surrey to Winchester in Hampshire.

After his rampage, the court heard how he got out of his car and punched his fist into the air in a 'triumphant victory'.

Bathurst-Shaw-Binning eventually crashed on the M3 near junction 11 on 16 June 2023. It resulted in the motorway being closed for several hours.

PC Beth Hill said: "It is by sheer luck only that nobody was seriously injured during this spree of utterly reckless and dangerous driving by the defendant.

"This caused complete mayhem on the motorway and he has rightly been punished for his actions."

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Lee Tosswill is now recovering at home but he's still dealing with both the physical and mental impact of the crash. He said: "I went from running a pub everyday to being this person that I don’t really know.

"I’m not myself, I wasn’t Lee. I can go to bed and close my eyes and all I can do is picture that face coming towards me.

"I was a real confident driver, I would drive anywhere and now I just can’t even drive 10 minutes, it affects me. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be a confident driver ever again now."

Bathurst-Shaw-Binning was sentenced to nine years imprisonment, for dangerous driving, criminal damage, and recklessly endangering the lives of three motorists. He's also been disqualified from driving for 160 months.

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