I was left for dead by Farington teenager in hit and run now I have PTSD and can still smell the oil
A dad described how he was left for dead in a hit and run - but he was able to get justice after the teenage driver was identified through the blood on the car he abandoned airbag.
Zander Sumner, 43, was driving home from work on February 2 when a BMW driven by Tyler Smith, 19, collided head on with him.
The crash crumpled the entire front section of Zander’s Fiat 500 and he was left with multiple collarbone fractures, damage to his ribs and back as well as multiple glass lacerations.
Smith, of Derwent Close, Farington fled from the scene but forensic examination of blood on his car’s airbag later revealed his identity.
He then pled guilty at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court on August 20 to driving without insurance, driving without due care and attention, and to failing to stop after an accident.
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Smith was given a six month driving disqualification as well as 200 hours of community service and an order to pay £300 in compensation.
Zander says the trauma of the incident has transformed his life - leaving him with PTSD and flashbacks.
Months on, he says his mind periodically goes to images of headlights racing towards him and the sound of the screeching of brakes.
Zander, a healthcare worker from Billington said: “Even now I can recall the smell of the oil from the night.
“Three or four times a week, I jolt up at two or three o'clock in the morning, thinking I've been in a crash.
“Sometimes I’m reliving the same crash, other times I’m on a plane or a boat. But there’s always something bringing me back to the impact.”
Zander says the mental impacts have impacted his social and family life.
He and his wife Lindsey, 42, are avid Oasis fans and had tickets to see the band perform at Heaton Park.
But Zander says he spent the whole concert thinking about whether the cowardly driver could be a member of the audience and standing nearby unknown to him in the crowd.
He said: “It took a toll at home, definitely, because I was angry. All that I was always thinking about every day was: ‘Who's done it?’
“I would start taking it out on the loved ones around me because you're frustrated and more irritable than usual and in pain as well.”