Experts have warned of a ‘concerning’ trend of teens inhaling nitrous oxide – or ‘hippy crack’ – before getting behind the wheel, with the reckless act leading to multiple deaths in recent years.
Last December, 19-year-old Thomas Johnson was jailed for nine years after causing the death of three of his friends when he crashed into a tree at 100mph under the influence of ‘laughing gas’.
The families of Daniel Hancock, 18, Elliot Pullen, 17, and Ethan Goddard, 18, who were all killed in the crash, have since called for stricter restrictions on new drivers.
But this is just one of the many tragic incidents where lives have been lost after taking to the wheel under the influence of balloons – or in many cases, inhaling them while driving.
An inquest heard this week that a young driver in Halifax, Yorkshire, died after he crashed into an oncoming vehicle while high on cocaine and laughing gas.
Felix Jackson, 19, tragically passed away, while his girlfriend and two friends were injured as well as two people in the BMW he had collided with.
Last weekend, a video of a car crash at Limehouse Link tunnel went viral, with suspicions it was to do with drug-driving on nitrous oxide, though this has not been confirmed by officials.
Police forces and campaigners alike have warned of the ‘worrying’ trend in youngsters, saying that the act is in some ways ‘more dangerous’ than drink driving.
John Scruby, a former police traffic officer and trustee of Campaign against Drink Driving (CAAD), told : ‘Nitrous oxide gives a short high, but it is a substantial high and driving under that high is just crazy.
‘The consequences are unthinkable.
‘When people drive having inhaled it, they lose all inhibitions, all sense of spatial awareness, and all sense of speed. You basically haven’t got a clue what you are doing.
‘It is as bad as, probably worse than, driving under the influence of alcohol.
‘With alcohol, the effects can be slower and more gradual, but with nitrous oxide the effect is far worse than and far quicker than with drink driving.’
Mr Scruby said that former colleagues at South Yorkshire Police say the use of nitrous oxide while driving has become a ‘very concerning trend’.
He said: ‘It’s become such a common drug now. It’s like the new booze.
‘You see them discarded all around car parks.
‘It’s a cheap way to get high. But the consequences when driving are unthinkable.
‘And the problem is it is virtually untraceable, so the police very much have their hands tied.
‘How do you prove someone is under the influence when you can’t trace it? It feels like a bit of a no-win situation all round.’
The concerns have also been echoed by police in Marcham, Oxfordshire, where the fatal crash which led to the death of teenagers Hancock, Pullen, and Goddard happened.
Nitrous oxide, which was legal to possess at the time of the crash in 2023 but not to drive under the influence of, has since been categorised as a class C drug, but this has not stopped fatal accidents from occurring.
Sergeant Matt Cadmore, who was the first officer at the scene in Marcham, told the hearing last year: ‘It seems to be becoming a bit of a trend for youngsters to take laughing gas.
‘Around 20 years ago, it seemed to be alcohol but people now tend to use drugs and alcohol and are impaired. We arrest a lot of people after crashes who test positive for drugs.
‘The fact they were so young heightened this and it was fully preventable. If they were driving within the speed limit and weren’t distracted, they would all be at home now.
‘There is a trend with youngsters that they think they won’t be impaired.’
Nitrous oxide from items such as whipping cream cans are commonly used by youngsters to get high from.
Sergeant Cadmore also called for stricter restrictions on the purchase of cannisters, suggesting for more checks to be carried out and for sellers to ‘decline’ people if they don’t think it’s for a legitimate use.
Mobile phone footage from inside the car before the fatal crash on June 23, 2023, showed the boys laughing and passing nitrous-oxide canisters to the front, while Johnson inhaled a balloon.
In the judge’s sentencing, Johnson was warned that he will be ‘forever defined’ by the incident.
The judge also told him that his facial disfiguration as a result of the crash on the A415 will be a ‘permanent reminder’ to himself and others that he killed his friends.
Just last month, in another fatal collision involving laughing gas, Washe Manyatelo pled guilty by way of a Section 76 notice – for causing death by driving dangerously on August 26, 2023, and two other charges related to failing to provide a blood sample and being concerned in the supply of cocaine.
The 24-year-old was driving a Mercedes C220 at excessive speed after inhaling nitrous oxide when he struck Annette Dixon, 70, after she got off a bus in Edinburgh.
He had gotten onto the opposing carriageway, mounted a pavement and grass verge and back onto the road when he hit the pensioner.
He later refused to provide a blood sample for testing claiming it was against his religion, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.
Speaking to about the ease with which laughing gas can be bought, Mr Scruby said: ‘The added problem is that it is so easy to purchase.
‘People can buy it online for virtually cookies.
‘Nitrous oxide is present in things like squirty cream cans. That’s how easy it is to get it.
‘But how do you prove someone is not just buying it to do some baking?
‘It’s very difficult.
‘The only solution is education.’
In June last year, a 22-year-old woman was jailed for two years after she used a mobile phone to film herself inhaling laughing gas from a balloon in her moving car – seconds before causing a horror crash.
Georgia Hunter’s terrified backseat passenger asked her to stop and wanted to get out before he suffered a fractured skull, spine, eye socket, breastbone, bleeding on the brain and broken teeth in the late night smash on a dark road.
The 17-year-old front seat passenger was left with a broken pelvis, damage to her sciatic nerve and fears her injuries may prevent her from having children in future.
Newcastle Crown Court heard Hunter was within the limit of alcohol despite drinking Prosecco and beer that night – but had high levels of a breakdown product of cocaine in her system that put her seven times the legal amount.
During sentencing, the judge said: ‘It is one of the worst non-fatal dangerous driving cases I have seen. It was an accident that happened, that was waiting to happen.
‘One passenger’s description is you were driving erratically, too fast on an unlit, narrow road, weaving and inhaling laughing gas from balloons and we know that’s true because I have seen you, you filmed it on your mobile phone.’
In yet another shocking case, a reckless driver filmed himself inhaling laughing gas at 90mph before three of his friends died in a horror crash.
Shane Loughlin was not driving the car at the time of the crash at St Mellons, Cardiff, but had been driving the same car just hours earlier while inhaling laughing gas.
The 33-year-old had his sentence reduced on appeal by four months last year.
A video taken on his mobile showed him swerving between lanes as he held his phone in one hand and a balloon in the other.
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) have also warned about the dangers of driving on laughing gas in recent years, saying that the gas is becoming ‘increasingly popular among young people’.
‘Nitrous oxide affects people physically and mentally,’ says Craig Kettlewell, Bradford District Watch Manager for WYFRS.
‘It can cause severe nausea, dizziness and light-headedness which can make driving hazardous.
‘This is a really big problem for us in Bradford and we have cut people out of cars where nitrous oxide has been present.
‘The gas restricts the brain of oxygen, gives them a small high and so becomes addictive. They take it by filling up a balloon with the gas and inhaling it – we have spoken to some young people that are inhaling 30 balloons a day. The problem is there is no roadside test, and it leaves someone system very quickly.’