The 23-year-old had previously been given a suspended sentence for other motoring offences weeks before the crash
A stoned father who had blamed an ‘imaginary friend’ for crashing his van on the M25 motorway after being previously having been banned from driving on the roads has been jailed.
Morgan Tinpeloo, age 23, fell asleep at the wheel of his Vauxhall Astra before ploughing into a red transporter van on the M25 motorway between Godstone and Sevenoaks.
Following the accident, the 23-year-old builder had began pacing up and down the hard shoulder, telling witnesses that he was looking for ‘Jamie’ and shouting ‘Where’s my mate? Where has he gone?’ But others drivers on the road had spotted him slumped over the wheel of his vehicle moments before the crash and were able to confirm that the man had been travelling on his own.
During his trial, that took place at Maidstone Crown Court, Prosecutor James Ross said that Mr Tinpeloo had been spotted driving on the road dangerously moments before the accident had occurred last October at 7:45am.
This comes after Andrew Bailey, the governor of Bank of England, said he continued to believe the recent jump in inflation would be temporary. The Bank of England governor has warned that it will “have to act” to curb the rising inflation in the UK, sending a new signal that it is gearing up to raise interest rates.
A witness told police: “I was travelling in the left lane when my attention was drawn to a black Vauxhall Astra with only one person in the car.
“I noticed him swerve from the middle lane into a lorry in the left lane; thereby clipping his own wing mirror.
“He then swerved off into the middle lane and drove off.
“I could clearly see the driver slumped over the driver’s side window as if he was asleep.
“He then drove off at speed.”
The motorist then carried on and saw the same Astra had crashed into a red transporter vehicle a little further down the motorway.
Mr Ross said: “Initially Mr Tinpeloo was out of his vehicle and seemed to be inventing a fake driver on which he could blame the incident.”
Weeks previously, Mr Tinpeloo had received a suspended jail sentence for other driving offences.
The driver of the transporter told police: “I was driving at 70mph. Suddenly, I felt a really big thud from the back and I was thrown out of my seat towards the steering wheel.
“I momentarily lost control of my vehicle. I remember a very loud bang. After stopping, I looked into my mirror and I could see a ball of smoke.”
This comes after The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said that job vacancies within the UK hit 1.1 million between the months of July and September, the highest level since records had began back in 2001.
Mr Tinpeloo was jailed for eight months after admitting to driving while disqualified, as well as driving under the influence of cannabis and causing criminal damage to a property in Gravesend.
He was also banned from driving for a period of 22-months.
Judge Julian Smith said: “It was incredibly fortuitous that no-one was seriously injured. These are grave offences but the consequences could have been worse.”
