UberEats driver sentenced to over nine years for reckless crash that killed pedestrian
A 20-year-old UberEats driver received a nine-year-four-month prison term after his out-of-control Toyota Corolla struck and killed university student Natasha Thorp and seriously injured Cerys Cartwright on Sutton Coldfield's ring road.
In Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, 20-year-old Saleh Mahmoud Taha Hassan lost control of his Toyota Corolla after repeatedly drifting around a roundabout, a maneuver captured on CCTV. The car, traveling at 46 mph in a 30 mph zone, left the road and struck pedestrians Natasha Thorp, 21, and Cerys Cartwright, 21, killing Thorp and inflicting serious injuries on Cartwright, including a broken foot. Hassan, who had been making UberEats deliveries that evening and was uninsured, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and causing death while uninsured.
Birmingham Crown Court sentenced him to nine years and four months' imprisonment and a 12-year-eight-month driving disqualification. The judge described the incident as a reckless, show-off act, noting a brake defect that should have been apparent. Victims' families delivered emotional statements, and Cartwright testified that Hassan was to blame. The case underscores the severe legal repercussions of reckless driving in the gig-economy sector.
Why it matters
It underscores the lethal risk of reckless, uninsured gig-economy driving and the harsh penalties imposed.
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