Dromore man banned from driving after crash on Omagh road

A DROMORE man has been banned from driving after a crash that left a passenger in another vehicle with serious injuries, including broken vertebrae, and required an air ambulance.

Peter Ward (43), of O’Neill Terrace, appeared at Omagh Magistrates Court on Tuesday, where he was sentenced for causing serious injury by careless driving and for driving without insurance.

The case relates to June 2, 2024, when police responded to a collision on the Clanabogan Road between a red Peugeot and a white Volkswagen.

The driver of the Peugeot, identified as Ward, said he was heading from Omagh to Dromore when he hit a grass verge and lost control of the car, veering into the oncoming lane before colliding with the Volkswagen.

As a result, the driver of the other car was taken to Altnagelvin whilst the front seat passenger required an air ambulance due to injuries including broken vertebrae.

Further investigations found that Ward was not insured to drive the vehicle.

Defence counsel Stephen Fitzpatrick said that Ward made full admissions at interview and at the scene.

Mr Fitzpatrick explained that the Dromore man had borrowed his nephews car that day and thought that he had third party coverage to drive the car, finding out after that this was not the case.

As for the events that led to the collision, Ward said he had a ‘lapse in concentration’.

Mr Fitzpatrick told the court that since the collision the victim had made a ‘full recovery’, adding that Ward wished to express his remorse to the injured person.

District judge Ted Magill said that it was the ‘grace of God’ and intervention by the ambulance workers that the victim survived the crash.

He noted however that it is ‘the public that will pay the price’ for Ward not being insured that day.

The Dromore man was handed an 18-month driving ban and fined £250.