A POWER station worker has been jailed for eight months for a head-on smash that injured four people including a young girl.

Gareth Leighton overtook a line of cars on a blind bend on the Selby bypass before a 60mph manoeuvre that caused three cars to spin out of control, put a taxi driver in hospital for ten weeks with serious internal injuries and injured a ten-year-old girl, York Crown Court heard.

Recorder Deborah Sherwin said: “It is a miracle neither you nor your passenger nor Mr Mahmood (the taxi driver) were killed”.

Leighton, of Ryedale Way, Selby, was jailed for eight months, banned from driving for 18 months and ordered to retake his driving test, after admitting dangerous driving on the A63 near the Thorpe Willoughby roundabout on February 15, last year.

The judge said Leighton, then 21, had been awake since 5.15am when he set off for work in Hartlepool in his Golf GTi with a fellow worker. After completing his shift he drove back.

Between 3.30pm and 4pm, he began overtaking a line of vehicles ahead of him on a long sweeping “blind” bend on the bypass.

The judge said: “This manoeuvre clearly caused consternation to a number of those drivers.”

As he came out of the bend, Leighton moved out to overtake a white van and then a blue Mercedes people carrier with the girl and her mother inside. But the taxi driver was coming the other way in a Skoda Octavia, and instead of pulling back into his proper lane, Leighton tried unsuccessfully to squeeze through the gap between him and the Mercedes.

He hit the Octavia, started spinning, clipped the Mercedes and all three cars spun out of control.

The mother and daughter suffered whiplash injuries.

For Leighton, Stephen Brown said his client had driven safely until the “momentary, extremely poor judgement” that had caused the collision and given him minor injuries.

The court was told the taxi driver’s injuries may have been worse because he was not wearing a seat belt.

Mr Brown said Leighton was remorseful and fully appreciated the seriousness of his actions.

The A63 was closed for five hours while emergency services cleared the wreckage.