Delivery driver who caused £1M damage to luxury cars avoids jail
Delivery driver, 25, trashed luxury cars worth £1MILLION including a Bentley and a Porsche Cayenne as he chased a McLaren SLR through Chelsea in his Audi A8 before ploughing into railings avoids jail
- Ahmed Al Husseini, 25, was caught on CCTV racing a McLaren SLR in Chelsea
- Al Husseini was racing the £300,000 McLaren in an Audi A8 on August 1, 2019
- CCTV showed both cars racing far in excess of the area’s 30mph speed limit
- He admitted wrecking cars including the McLaren, a Porsche and a Bentley
Ahmed Al Husseini, 25, was caught on CCTV hurtling after a McLaren SLR in his Audi A8 moments before he flew through the air and smashing into metal railings outside a terraced home in Chelsea
A delivery driver who trashed £1 million worth of supercars in a race through one of London‘s most exclusive neighbourhoods was let off with a suspended jail sentence.
Ahmed Al Husseini, 25, was caught on CCTV hurtling after a McLaren SLR in his Audi A8 moments before he flew through the air and smashing into metal railings outside a terraced home in Chelsea.
Husseini admitted wrecking the £300,000 McLaren along with a parked Porsche Cayenne worth around £100,000 and a blue Bentley costing £200,000.
Two other Porches and two Audi Q7s were also hit.
CCTV footage shows a McLaren speeding down the street, way above the 30mph speed limit, followed by Al Husseini at the wheel of an Audi Q7.
He appears to be chasing the McLaren from Lennox Gardens to Moore Street before the crash.
Al Husseini spent two days in hospital after injuring his head and almost shattering his right knee.
He appeared at Isleworth Crown Court today on crutches. supported by two family members in the public gallery.
Brian Reece, prosecuting, said: ‘The vehicle was travelling in the 30mph speed limit between 81 and 82 miles an hour, it was sufficient to cause the Audi as it entered that junction to become airborne.
‘At which point the defendant as the driver would have no control over it and just across that junction is Moore Street which is the place where some extremely valuable vehicles are parked.
The high speed impact in Cheslea saw more than £1m worth of damage caused when Al Husseini lost control of the Audi A8 while chasing a McLaren SLR in August 2019
Several cars including this Porsche Cayenne suffered extensive damage in the high speed collision
The car scraped along the side of several expensive motors, including Porsches, Audis, a Bentley and even a Range Rover
‘We have the first vehicle which is on the Audi’s right as it goes down the open road, it’s a McLaren MP4, which is extremely valuable as Your Honour is aware.
‘He bore the brunt of it, as did the McLaren. There was a Porsche Cayenne of a similar shape and size to the Audi, parked immediately behind the Porsche Cayenne, back to back.
‘Behind that was a Bentley Bentayga, which is also extremely valuable, near that was a Porsche Carrera 4S, another extremely valuable sports car and then an Audio A5, a different type but still a considerable value.
‘Coming to a rest the vehicle caused damage to three others, a Vauxhall Corsa, a Mitsubishi Outlander and a Landrover Discovery.
‘The Audi turned over came to rest on its wheels and the defendant was taken to hospital.
‘Some of the damage to the vehicles was direct as the impact with the McLaren and the Porsche Cayenne, the other damage was incidental by flying components.
‘He gave the context of having been himself in a hit and run incident that he attributed to the driver of the McLaren SLR and thought he was in pursuit of the SLR in Lennox Gardens, four to five hours later.
‘He claimed he had no recollection of the incident.
Insurers said repairing the damage to the cars has cost between £500,000 and £1 million
‘He had had a full licence for about a year and had no previous convictions.
‘Settlement figures given in interview were between half a million and a million pounds for damage to these cars.’
Tony Nayager, defending, said: ‘It’s racing and speed, speed which gives way to loss of control.
‘As I understand it there is a camber, and it’s the camber, speed and sight angle that causes the loss of control.
‘If he’s going to drive at that speed then he’s going to bear the consequences.
‘He’s readily in acceptance of his culpability for this matter.
‘Perhaps Mr Al Husseini is feeling rather sorry for himself rather than anyone else.
‘He got a ‘multi-vehicle engineering’ BTEC and his employment was delivering for a newspaper company in the London area.
‘The car belonged to his father’s former partner, this later broke down their relationship and also his relationship with his father.’
Al Husseini suffered an open head wound after the accident, My Nayager added.
Judge Sarah Paneth told him: ‘One other remarkable feature is that the only person seriously injured is you.
‘But damage to other vehicles or property, that you have achieved in spades.
‘I’m not so much concerned about the value of these vehicles in monetary terms, it is the number of vehicles and the fact that any of the people who owned these vehicles, Vauxhall or Porsche Cayennes, they were all valuable.
Al Husseini was given a ten month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months and was banned from driving for two years. He was also ordered to sit an extended driving licence
‘Whatever the value of the vehicles was, I have to look at the fact that you caused extensive damage to a very large number of vehicles.
‘Damage to these vehicles was caused by you driving far too fast.
‘What happened here was you crossed a junction without even beginning to slow down, chasing a car first colliding with the offisde rear of a McLaren parked car, then colliding with the offside front of a Porsche Cayenne.
‘You lost control of that vehicle because it was airborne, once it comes down and collides with the McLaren you have no control of where it’s going, you’re going so fast and are so heavy that you collide with the Cayenne, pushed it back into the Bentley, then crossed the western footpath and your car came to rest with its rear side wheel balanced on edge of the basement accommodation.
‘The Bentley pushed by the Cayenne was pushed into another Porsche which in turn hit another Audi parked behind it, your car appears to have rotated in clockwise location and started to roll and there was then found damage to offider rear of an Audi Q3.
‘Your vehicle then collided with the offside of a Vauxhall Corsa, because you now rotated and started to roll and then with the nearside of the front of a Mitsubishi Outlander.
‘That was pushed rearwards to contact with a Landrover Discovery and your vehicle came to rest across Moore Street facing easterly and probably impacting with a Fiat 500 on the nearside, and a Range Rover opposite it.
‘On my analysis after that first collision there are further four collisions with your car directly and all the other damage follows because you’re in a heavy car at speed which causes other cars to crash into one another.
‘It is frankly a miracle that no one was seriously hurt, perhaps other than you.
‘It’s perhaps a credit to Audi engineering that you weren’t and your passenger escaped serious injury too.
‘It was quite clear that what you did was totally out of character and I accept that.
‘It was your admission that you were racing effectively to try and catch up with that vehicle.
‘You have suffered the consequences perhaps more than anyone else, you continue to have flashbacks and to be unable to get into a car.’
Al Husseini was given a ten month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months.
Judge Paneth added: ‘Had you been even slightly over the limit I would not be suspending the sentence, it is the highly unusual circumstances in this case and the lack of all the aggravating features.’
He was also placed under an electronically monitored curfew for four months from 8am to 8pm, with 20 days rehabilitation activity requirement and disqualified from driving for two years.
Al Husseini must complete an extended driving test to regain his licence.
