Drink driver crashed into family's car while leaving pub causing lasting damage

A family has talked about the permanent physical and mental trauma caused by a crash involving a drunk driver as police say the reopening of licensed premises may lead to an increase in drink driving.

Emyr Williams, an off-duty police officer, ignored his training to rescue his wife and daughter from the wreckage after the driver smashed into their car.

The collision left his wife Angela with multiple fractures and the couple are still living with the effects of the crash.

Police across Wales are concerned the relaxation of the lockdown will lead to an increase in drink driving incidents as licensed premises reopen.

Emyr, an officer for Dyfed Powys Police, said that while he used his police training to "instinctively" avoid a head on collision in May 2018, the same could not be said for getting his family to safety.

Emyr was driving home to celebrate a work success with Angela, a fellow officer for the force.

He said: "We were coming up to a pub on a nasty bend, and as we approached an Audi SUV pulled out directly into our path. I instinctively used a technique I was taught at driver training way back in 1999 to avoid hitting him straight on.

"My concern was Ange and Megs. As an officer, you’re taught all these things like don’t go back to the car, but I just needed to know they were OK.

"One of the officers later told their inspector they were expecting the collision to be a fatal because of the location. That was really quite hard to hear. If I hadn’t reacted as I had, one of us could have been killed."

Figures show that between March and June 2020, Dyfed Powys officers arrested 141 people on suspicion of drink driving. This is a decrease of 29 per cent compared with last year.

The number of drug drive arrests, however, has risen by 136 per cent – with 317 people arrested in the same three months, compared with 134 in 2019.

The force has launched Operation Oakridge – a response to the demand it expects to face as Coronavirus restrictions are lifted. 

The driver of the Audi was breathalysed at the scene and after being found over the drink drive limit was handed a 15-month driving ban. He lived just a mile from the pub where he had been drinking.

Emyr and Angela are still suffering two years on.

Angela spent three months in plaster and was subsequently diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome which means she is likely be in pain for the rest of her life.

Angela can remember the moments before the impact, saying: "If I think back, I can remember going round the windy bit of road and seeing the car. I thought it was a close miss, then the impact came.

"All I could hear was Megs screaming. My hand instantly swelled up from the fractures, but I pulled her out of the car and held her as tightly as I could."

Despite banging his head in the impact, Emyr jumped straight out of the driver's seat to check on his family. Although he was uninjured, he still suffers migraines, dizziness, and tinnitus caused by post-concussion syndrome and an extreme narrowing of his vertebrae.Megs was discharged at the scene and "bounced back quite quickly". Her dad said: "She was back in school on the Monday, telling everyone about her adventure."

As a police officer, Angela could not believe the driver had been caught one and a half times over the drink drive limit. She added: "Drink driving has always been one of my hates, and I’ve always done all I could to take part in operational campaigns to cut down thenumber of incidents.

“The driver has served his ban now, and is likely to be back on the road. For us, the physical and mental impact is ongoing, and it’s unlikely we’ll ever fully recover.

“And this is all because of someone else’s actions. He lived less than a mile from the pub – why didn’t he just get a taxi?”