EXCLUSIVE

ONE OF Macclesfield Town FC's young prospects is facing jail for dangerous driving after magistrates heard he caused a 60mph head-on smash - injuring a mother and her two toddlers on their way home from visiting their grandparents.

Izak Reid, 19, of St Peters Gardens, Rickerscote, Staffordshire - currently earning £390-a-month but who is said to be on the cusp of signing his first professional deal - admitted causing the crash when he attempted to overtake a line of six cars on the 40mph A523 Leek Road.

And now the young hopeful's career is in the balance as magistrates decide his fate.

The Macc Town apprentice had swerved back into traffic to avoid an oncoming red car just moments before he ploughed into the mother's 4x4 near the Harrington Arms in Bosley at 2.15pm. The woman was driving a Land Rover Discovery.

Reid, who has played with the first-team in pre-season friendlies, admitted two further offences - one of driving while disqualified and driving without insurance - after he was stopped just two days before he was sentenced.

The attacking midfielder claims he borrowed his mother's VW Polo while on an interim ban because he was late for training and ended up spending a night in police cells.

Jane Large, prosecuting, told magistrates the mother, who was driving at 40mph, saw Reid, who was travelling with an unidentified male passenger in the direction of Leek, speeding towards her on her side of the road.

The mother, who lives in Macclesfield, told police: "The vehicle speeded up instead of getting into the correct side of the road. The vehicle continued on the wrong side of the road.

"I swerved as hard as I could to the left but the black car hit my vehicle head-on."

The Peugeot hit the Land Rover with such force it catapulted into the air, rebounding backwards and crashing into the front of a following vehicle.

The mother told officer she heard loud music coming from Reid's car - and the terrified tears of her shaken children.

She said: "My daughter was screaming in the back of the car. They were both shaken but didn't appear to be injured. I am extremely angry about the incident. He had no regard for the dangerous way he was driving."

The mother and her two-year-old boy were treated at Macclesfield Hospital for whiplash and seatbelt burns. Although the woman's four-year-old daughter escaped injury, it was said she had trouble sleeping ever since the horror smash.

A professional driver, who had to brake sharply to avoid the Peugeot as it swerved back in line to avoid the red car, told police: "I have held a driving licence since I was 17. In my opinion, his driving was without doubt, dangerous.

"Both overtakes would have resulted in a head-on crash causing injury or even death.

"It is fortunate it was a Land Rover Discovery and not a smaller car because it could have been a completely different story.

"I thought to myself: 'what an idiot.'"

A female driver, who was in the line of traffic, told officers: "I saw a black car in the middle of the road. I was quite scared. One second he wasn't there and the next he was. He must have been travelling very fast."

All witnesses agreed that the Peugeot was speeding at between 50mph and 60mph.

Miss Large said both Reid and his passenger ran from the Peugeot after the crash. When the mother and a witness shouted them back they stopped and sat on the kerbside.

Mark Holder, defending, told magistrates Reid and his passenger were not fleeing the scene after the crash but only running off road for safety reasons.

The attacking midfielder, who is in the final year of his scholarship, is serving an interim driving ban imposed at an earlier hearing. He has one previous warning for speeding.

Reid, who drives to Macclesfield from Staffordshire for training and matches, was hopeful of high-level community punishment after reports were made.

But after retiring for just ten minutes, the bench rejected more lenient recommendations and instead ordered a new all-options report to be prepared - opening up the possibility of prison.

Jocelyn Saunders, chairman of the bench, told Reid: "We all agree that we cannot sentence you today. We don't believe that the report recommendation is sufficient and we would like probation to make another report considering all options - including custody."

Mr Holder told magistrates: "My client accepted the evidence put forward. He doesn't question anything that was said. My client accepts he was doing wrong when he overtook, certainly for the second time.

"All he did say in answer to the charge was he saw this incident as a car travelling in the line speeding up to prevent him moving back into the space. But this is in no way put forward as a defence."

Discussing the charges of driving while disqualified Mr Holder said: "In the past he has had a warning about being late to training. Because he had had this warning in his mind, he had to get in for the training session. You have seen from the report the immature and impulsive way he thinks about these matters. He simply got into the car and drove."

Macclesfield Town FC said they refuse to comment on individual cases.