'Show-off' who crashed while drifting in his BMW - narrowly avoiding killing himself and his passenger - gets community service
A motorist who was "showing off" by "drifting" with his headlights off collided with a tree and ended up flipping his BMW into a ditch.
Details were given to Ballymena Magistrates' Court where Christopher Fulton, 22 and from Cullybackey Road, Ballymena, was given a sentence of community service for dangerous driving.
The charge sheet says it happened at Cardonaghy Road – between Ahoghill and Cullybackey – on December 4, 2023.
District Judge Nigel Broderick recalled details from when the charge had been contested by the defendant and he had convicted him of dangerous driving.
The judge said: "He was drifting round the bends between here and Ahoghilll showing off. That was my finding – and he put the car on its roof as well.”
A prosecutor said Fulton had collided with a tree causing the car to flip onto the roof and come to rest in a ditch.
There was a front seat passenger, and the prosecutor said: "She had indicated he was speeding and drifting and driving on the dark country road at night without any lights on, driving down the middle of the road, swerving to avoid an oncoming vehicle, causing a collision.”
The court was told the defendant was not insured to drive the vehicle "and he had previous, his licence had been stopped at that point".
A defence barrister said the defendant has a lorry business and the driving ban would impact on that.
Judge Broderick said the defendant was lucky not to have killed himself and his passenger after hitting a tree.
He said similar cases, "invariably" involving young men crashing into trees, have sometimes resulted in fatalty.
He said it "should have been obvious" to the defendant that what he was doing was "very dangerous".
The judge said that as an "alternative" to jail, Fulton should do 180 hours of community service.
There is also a 13 month driving ban.
Charges relating to insurance and a driving licence had been dismissed.
The case was heard at Ballymena Courthouse on Thursday.
It came just days after the same judge had warned in a different dangerous driving case that “it is only a matter of time before there is a serious if not fatal road traffic collision” related to drifting.