A grieving father has spoken of his anger at the sentence received by the driver of a car which crashed, killing his teenage son.

Sta Wright spoke out after magistrates disqualified 19-year-old Christopher Cox from driving for nine months and fined him £600

Cox admitted driving without due care and attention when he appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court yesterday

The court heard Cox, of Manors Way, Silver End, was driving his Renault Clio car along Ashes Road in Cressing on October 23 last year with three passengers when it crashed, killing 18-year-old Joseph Wright.

Prosecutor Christian Meikle said: "Ahead, there was an Audi 80 being driven at a slower speed than the defendant's car. He approached the rear and overtook.

"As he passed the car, he lost control of the vehicle."

The court heard the cars tyres mounted the side of a grass verge and the vehicle cartwheeled before coming to a rest some distance from the road.

Peter Butterfield, mitigating, said: "Mr Cox has pleaded guilty on the basis that there must have been a momentary lapse in his driving standards that led to the accident and the tragic consequences that followed from there."

He told magistrates the driver of the Audi, Kevin Farrow, was at Mr Wright's inquest where he said he had seen nothing wrong with Cox's driving, and although he said Cox was driving faster than him, he did not consider him to be careless or exceeding the speed limit - 60mph.

He added: "Mr Cox has no recollection of the accident because of his injuries and therefore cannot give an explanation as to why the car came off the road.

"But he accepts something must have happened as he was passing the Audi motor vehicle something must have occurred, obviously for a split second, that caused him to veer into the ditch.

"He lost a friend on the day in question and he is devastated by that. He appreciates the sorrow caused to the gentleman's family and that to him is the greatest punishment he can be given by this court."

After the hearing, outside the court, Mr Wright, a former coach driver, said: "I am disgusted because that is nine months and a £600 fine for a boy's life.

"In my opinion, people should go away for that.

"If I killed somebody in my coach, that would be manslaughter but they just let them get away."

He added he plans to approach his local MP to suggest a bill which would see motorists under the age of 21 unable to drive any car over 1000cc.

Published Friday, August 1, 2003

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