Anger after speeding driver Paul Hogg spared jail

Nov 25 2009 by Jo Butcher and Garry Willey, The Journal

ROAD safety campaigners have hit out after a speeding tailgater was spared jail. Paul Hogg was three times over the limit when he was clocked doing 100mph on the A1, centimetres behind other cars.

Safety campaigners have labelled his driving "appalling", warning he could easily have killed innocent people.

Last night they said it was "ludicrous" that Hogg was allowed to walk free from court yesterday.

Hogg, a test engineer, was first spotted tailgating near Belford in Northumberland, and eventually crashed near Gosforth, almost 50 miles away.

He sped up behind other drivers so close they could not even read his number plate in their rearview mirrors, and weaved from side to side looking for a chance to over or undertake.

The 46-year-old finally lost control of his silver Fiat cargo van and hit the back of a Peugeot, which he had been tailing by only 80cm. Both vehicles spun off the road into the nearside ditch.

The crash left the Peugeot passenger needing a course of physiotherapy and powerful painkillers. Hogg was also injured. A test taken at hospital showed Hogg’s blood alcohol level was three times the limit – but at first he claimed he had been driving normally and that others were to blame for the accident on January 25 this year.