A BASINGSTOKE man who admitted to not sleeping or eating properly for 49 hours has been jailed for 32 months for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Krzysztof Stopko, 35, of Ascension Close, Popley, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving at Canterbury Crown Court on Monday, after being arrested  for driving his black Seat Leon the wrong way on the M20 on  April 7, colliding with a car andcausing serious injury to the occupants.

The court heard how Stopko had left his native Poland after visiting family on Tuesday, April 5, driving across Poland, through Germany, Belgium, Holland and into France to catch a ferry to the UK from Dunkirk, arriving in France at 8.30am on Wednesday, April 6.

He drove through the afternoon and all through the night without sleeping or eating before boarding the ferry in the early hours on Thursday, April 7. 

He drove out of Dover for four miles before stopping in a layby on the A20 and staying there for over five hours, again not sleeping or eating properly.

Officers were called at 12.03pm to reports of a black car travelling in the wrong direction on the London-bound carriageway.

After two miles Stopko crashed head on with a Skoda Fabia which ended up on the central reservation. 

The two occupants were injured, the passenger suffering serious multiple fractures.

PC Simon Masterson, from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “Stopko had been travelling in the correct direction and then performed a U-turn in the main carriageway and had then driven at motorway speeds in the outside lane before crashing into the Skoda.

“Too little sleep radically affects your ability to drive safely, increasing reaction times, reducing attention, and reducing your ability to control the vehicle.

“Motorists need to plan their journeys carefully to enable you to have sufficient rest beforehand, and to avoid driving at times when you’re likely to feel more tired. Allow enough time to take breaks and if you feel tired on your journey, find somewhere safe to rest as soon as possible; never try to fight off tiredness.”