January 7, 2022 5.59 pm This story is over 25 months old

Woman avoids jail after two crashes months apart – including ramming a house

She may have fallen asleep at the wheel

A driver who crashed into a house in South Holland, causing £12,000 worth of damage, has been disqualified for nine months.

Aleshia Francis, 34, may have fallen asleep at the wheel, Lincoln Magistrates’ Court was told on Friday.

She was also sentenced for colliding with a parked car while uninsured eight months later.

The crash at the property in Vicarage Close, Holbeach St Johns, happened more than two years ago, on December 2, 2019.

A woman in the house said it was “like an explosion”.

Marie Stace, prosecuting, said: “A Ford Focus has driven through a garden, crashing into the side of the house.

“The occupant of the house spoke to the driver who apologised and left the scene without leaving any details.”

Francis was found by police at her home in Draw Dyke, Tydd St Mary, about five hours later.

“She refused to answer the door but confirmed she was the driver of the car at the time of the collision. She refused to be interviewed, she was given legal advice but still declined,” said Miss Stace.

At an earlier hearing, Francis pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention, failing to stop after an accident and failing to report that accident.

The second collision was in Church Street, Market Deeping, on August 17, 2020.
Francis reversed a different Ford Focus into a Kia Sorrento outside the Post Office before driving off at high speed.

The car owner caught up with her in High Street and asked Francis why she had not stopped. She denied any knowledge of the collision.

“He asked her again and she started to laugh. He took a photograph of her and the damage to his car,” added Miss Stace.

Francis pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention and having no insurance at an earlier hearing.

Solicitor Simon Cobb, mitigating, said it was possible she had fallen asleep prior to the first incident because she was juggling difficult work shifts in Lancashire with childcare at home.

He told the court she was medicated for social anxiety and avoids any kind of confrontation.

Mr Cobb said his client felt bound to accept the witness accounts for the second incident.

As well as the ban for the first set of offences, Francis was given a community order with five rehabilitation activity requirement days and ordered to pay £500 compensation to the house owner.

For the second careless driving matter, she was fined £80. There was no separate penalty for the insurance offence. An order was made to pay £85 costs and £34 victim surcharge.