A WOMAN narrowly avoided being hit by an out-of-control car driven by a well-known local cricketer whose life had "gone off the rails" when his sporting dreams were shattered.
The car suddenly hurtled towards her at high speed before crashing through garden walls and hitting a parked van.
The "huge" impact of the smash pushed the van into a car parked next door and caused serious damage to the vehicles and the garden, a court heard.
Jack Harrison, who has played for Cleethorpes Cricket Club, hoped to become a professional sportsman but he went "off the rails" when his dreams came to nothing.
Harrison, 21, of Wyndham Road, New Waltham, admitted aggravated vehicle taking, failing to stop after an accident, having no insurance and driving with only a provisional licence on December 22.
Craig Lowe, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that Harrison took the keys for an Audi A3 after visiting the home of friends and later drove off.
At 2.30am, a 20-year-old student was in Chichester Road, Cleethorpes, when she saw the car heading towards her. It was "completely out of control" and was travelling very quickly and was at least twice over the 30mph speed limit.
"It was swerving all over the road and she thought the driver was not in control of it at all," said Mr Lowe.
Harrison lost control on a bend and was travelling so fast that the car took only a couple of seconds to reach her. The car mounted a grass verge and footpath and she had to run out of the way to avoid being hit.
She later said that, a second later, the car "would have driven straight over me" and the "consequences would have been terrible".
The car hit a wall and the front bumper broke off and flew into the road. The vehicle hurtled across to the right-hand side of the road, crashed through a brick wall and careered into a garden before hitting a van parked on a drive.
The force of the impact was so huge that it pushed the van sideways and into a car parked next door. The car driven by Harrison also crashed through the brick wall of the second house.
The garden of the first house was badly damaged, a wall was demolished and bricks were strewn across the lawn. A tree was also damaged.
Malcolm Chidley, the occupier of the first house, was in bed when he heard an "incredibly loud bang". He looked out and heard a woman "screaming hysterically".
The crashed car was "full of smoke" and the woman who narrowly avoided being hit went up and asked Harrison why he was driving so fast. He told her: "Shut up, shut up."
She later said the speeding car passed so close to her that she "felt the wind from it".
She added: "The driver sounded annoyed I was asking him about his driving. I realised how lucky I had been. It only just missed me."
She was left "really upset, shaking and crying" and was thought to have told Harrison: "You could have killed me."
Harrison later left the scene and "wasn't anywhere to be seen", said Mr Lowe. Blood was later found on the driver's air bag.
Harrison was later spotted but he ran off. The car was traced from its number plates and he was found at the home of the car owner.
The Audi, valued at £9,500, was written off and the van, almost new and valued at £17,000, was also a write-off. The other car damaged was repaired but the owner lost a £400 excess. She claimed she lost about £1,000 of business from her work as a mobile nail technician.
Harrison was jailed for a year and was banned from driving for three years. He must take an extended retest.
Judge Kate Buckingham told him: "This course of driving is so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified. I can't ignore how very dangerous that piece of driving was and how great the risk was, particularly to the lady that you narrowly missed.
"It is only by good fortune and good luck that you are not facing a much more serious charge with much more tragic consequences."
He had caused a "great deal of upset, inconvenience and distress" to the other vehicle owners.
