A DRUNK driver spotted doing 80mph shortly before smashing into a Council recycling lorry seriously injuring his passenger has been jailed for two years and seven months.

Khurram Salim crashed his uninsured VW Passat into the refuse wagon on Bradford’s Horton Grange Road just before 7am on April 25 causing the car to bounce back and spin across the road.

Two waste management employees emptying bins into the back of the lorry jumped clear when they saw the Passat approaching out of control at high speed, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

CCTV footage played in court showed the car doing an estimated 80mph in the minutes before the smash.

More footage then captured the high-speed impact, prompting the judge, Recorder Paul Reid, to state it was one of the most horrific pieces of driving he had seen captured on CCTV.

He described it as ‘utterly egregious’ pointing out that the Passat was a second from a head-on crash with a car that had just overtaken the bin lorry.

Salim, 34, of Staveley Road, Shipley, Bradford, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury to his male passenger by dangerous driving.

He also admitted driving after consuming so much alcohol that the proportion in his breath, namely 56 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, exceeded the prescribed limit, and driving without insurance.

Prosecutor Lucy Brown said the waste management team was out and about near a Council depot on the morning of the smash.

One of the men saw a car coming at them out of control and shouted a warning to his colleague. They both jumped clear behind the lorry as the Passat struck the front in a high-impact crash that left it blocking the road with the door hanging open.

Salim was walking off while people came to help his badly injured passenger before he was taken to hospital. The court heard that he did not assist the police with details of his injuries or his prognosis. It was believed that he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt before the crash. He had feared he might lose his broken leg but that danger was now over.

Just before the smash, a car had overtaken the lorry and there could have been a head-on collision, Miss Brown said.

Staff from the nearby depot came to help and the police were quickly on the scene.

Salim had a previous conviction dating from 2015 when he was locked up for dangerous driving and failing to provide a specimen.

Jeremy Hill-Baker said in mitigation that he pleaded guilty at his first appearance at the crown court and his relevant conviction was almost eight years’ ago.

Salim worked as an ice cream delivery driver and that job was now lost to him. He was a married man awaiting the arrival of his wife from Pakistan.

He had an alcohol addiction and self-medicated with drink in times of stress.

While on remand in HMP Leeds he had become a chapel orderly.

His father had suffered a mild stroke and he was very anxious to get out of jail to help the family.

Recorder Reid said Salim was very drunk when he drove at 80mph down the road that morning. It was a sunny day at 7am when the waste management team were emptying bins into a recycling lorry.

Salim sped up from the left in the 20mph zone, having already been captured on camera doing 80mph.

Recorder Reid said the speed was ‘absolutely horrific’ and it was sheer chance that no one was killed.

After the smash, Salim walked off in a ‘nonchalant’ manner, giving no thought to his injured passenger. He was mumbling in an incoherent fashion and detained until the police arrived. A roadside breath test was positive and a later reading showed he had 56 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. His uninsured car was written off.

His passenger wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and feared he might lose a leg. He had then not co-operated cooperate with the police.

Salim was jailed for 31 months and banned from driving for 47 months and until he passes an extended test.