Teen caused 'life-changing' injuries in hit-and-run

A teenage driver who left a petrol station worker with life-changing injuries following a hit-and-run crash has been detained.

Taghan Bal, 19, drove his Audi S3 into Srisankar Subramanian as he sped away from an Esso garage in Normanton, West Yorkshire, without paying after filling up his car.

Sentencing Bal to two years and 10 months in a young offenders institution, the judge said he had "ruined an innocent man's life with your selfish and reckless actions… all for a tank of fuel".

Bal, of Wyatt's Green, near Brentwood, in Essex, was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after admitting causing serious injury by dangerous driving, making off without payment and displaying a false number plate.

The court heard how Bal, then 18, had driven to Leeds with another man in a separate car to attend a "cruise car club" which Judge Mansell KC described as "notorious for anti-social behaviour".

However, the meet had been broken up by West Yorkshire Police before the pair could arrive.

The prosecution said Bal had driven to Leeds with the registered number plates for his vehicle, but switched to false plates at some point before he arrived at the petrol station.

On arrival he was seen on CCTV pulling his hood up before he and another driver filled up their vehicles.

As both drivers then attempted to leave without paying, Mr Subramanian ran out brandishing a broom to try and stop them, but Bal drove into him before speeding off.

Prosecutor Michael Morley said Mr Subramanian had suffered "entirely life-changing injuries", including a traumatic brain injury, skull fractures, a torn colon and tire marks across his chest.

An off-duty ambulance worker who witnessed Bal driving away and attended to the victim called it "one of the worst trauma cases he'd seen in 15 years on the job".

On the drive home to Essex, the court was told Bal made a call to AutoGlass to ask about getting his damaged windscreen fixed, and exchanged social media messages with a friend in which he said he was "finished".

He voluntarily handed himself into police, but initially denied all the charges.

Judge Mansell KC said Mr Subramanian's prognosis remained poor and it was likely he would be severely disabled and reliant on care for the rest of his life.

Defence barrister Benjamin Myers said the incident had had a "catastrophic impact" on the victim and on Bal, and that his client "expresses and experiences real remorse for what he has done".

He said the teenager, who has no previous convictions, had "cataclysmically began to set his standards by the company he was keeping" at the time.

Sentencing Bal, Judge Mansell remarked the 19-year-old came "from a good family" and was privately educated, with previously good character.

He noted that "you didn't do it for the money, you did it for the thrill and excitement of it all", and questioned whether Bal was "truly remorseful for what happened."

Bal has also been disqualified from driving for four years, and will be subject to an extended test when he can eventually reapply.

The second driver, Aderoju Adeniran, 31, pleaded guilty to stealing fuel and displaying a false number plate in January and was jailed for four months.

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