Valium driver Sammy Bonnar jailed over Inverclyde crash
A learner driver who left a man brain damaged after crashing into a bus while high on Valium has been jailed for six years and nine months.
Sammy Bonnar took five pills before crashing a Ford Mondeo into a coach in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, in July 2011.
The 23-year-old admitted to a charge of culpable and reckless driving to severe injury at the High Court in Glasgow.
Judge Lady Stacey also banned Bonnar, from Port Glasgow, from the road for the next eight years.
The court heard how Bonnar, who only held a provisional licence, was spotted driving the Ford Mondeo at up to 70mph in a 30 mph zone on 28 July last year.
He ploughed into a coach, injuring the driver and 11 people on board.
The court was told that passenger Alexander McCarthy suffered brain damage and is likely to remain in a vegetative state.
Jailing Bonnar, Lady Stacey told him he had committed "an extremely serious crime".
"I am sure you know what you did caused terrible consequences," she said.
"There is nothing that you can do that make up for what Alexander McCarthy's family must feel."