Mr Justice Humphreys made the award to John McAuley in his claim against another young motorist whose “highly dangerous” overtaking manoeuvre played a role in the crash. The scale of the payout for injuries and losses sustained by Mr McAuley was halved to £137,500 because of his own contributory negligence in driving too fast. Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to NorthernIrelandWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
A claim for further damages over the accident ending his dreams of becoming a golf professional was dismissed as too speculative. Mr McAuley, 26, sued Samuel Russell, 28, and a motor insurance company in connection with the collision at a humpback bridge on the Slaughterford Road back in August 2014. He was behind the wheel of a Renault Clio when a Vauxhall Corsa driven by Mr Russell came towards him on the wrong side of the road.
Aged 17 at the time, Mr McAuley had only passed his driving test two months previously. Advertisement Advertisement He swerved out of his own lane to avoid a collision but crashed into a Hyundai Santa Fe travelling in the opposite direction. A teenage girl who was a passenger in his Clio suffered serious, life-changing injuries in the accident.
She sustained brain trauma after being flung from the back seat and striking the dashboard head-first, a previous court heard. Mr McAuley, with a previous address at Dunkeld Gardens in Belfast , later pleaded guilty to caus.
