A father has slammed the ‘lenient’ punishment handed down to a drink driver who sent a car flying into a neighbour’s living room.
Callum Travell, 22, has been banned from the roads after he was almost twice the drink drive limit when his red Kia ploughed into the back of a car, which then smashed into the Southampton property.
Allan Vincent, 53, said his children have struggled to sleep since the accident and have been receiving counselling at school as a result.
He said: ‘It feels like the punishment does not fit the crime. It feels as though the impact on us and our neighbours has been disregarded.’
Unsurprisingly, Mr Vincent’s Volkswagen CC was written off when it was propelled through the ground floor window of his neighbour’s home.
There were four children inside the damaged house in Hampshire at the time of the incident on September 10.
Travell, from nearby Locks Heath, admitted driving without due care and attention and drink driving at Southampton Magistrates’ Court.
He was found to have 66 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath – almost double the legal limit of 35 micrograms.
The motorist was banned for 22 months and must pay fines totalling £1,060 as well as £85 court costs and a £426 surcharge.
His disqualification will be reduced by 22 weeks if he completes a drink-driving course by January 6, 2026.
At the time of the incident, around 12.40am, Mr Vincent was in bed and was ready to go to sleep when he heard a ‘massive thud which shook the house’.
He said: ‘I came outside and saw a mess; my car was in my neighbour’s house and I tried to calm down my neighbour’s wife, who had four kids in the house at the time.’
His car, which he had owned since 2016, was left with a completely mangled rear and the front was wedged into his neighbour’s bay window.
The mental impact of this accident is ongoing for Mr Vincent and his family.
He said: ‘My children can no longer sleep. My youngest regularly wakes up with nightmares, and both struggle to get to sleep of an evening.
‘Both children have had support from counsellors at school, and who knows how long this event will continue to affect them?
‘This was not a case of a driver being caught over the limit and speeding, this is a case of 10 people’s lives being significantly impacted by one person’s actions, and them receiving what feels like a disproportionately lenient punishment.’
Mr Vincent and his wife believe Travell made a ‘conscious decision’ to speed in a residential area and said he was ‘lucky not to have killed himself or us’.
Mr Vincent added: ‘In two years his punishment will be complete, and he will move on with his life.
‘Where is the deterrent to make the same poor decisions again? He should be made aware of the impact his actions have had.
‘I’m disappointed in the judicial system, and disappointed that we haven’t even had an apology.
‘Yes, insurance will cover the material damage, but, moving forward, our premiums will be affected, the value of our house will be affected, our mental health, and the enjoyment of our much-loved home will be affected.
‘It is difficult to find closure and move forward.’
His neighbour, Mike Ellis, has lived in the affected house with his family since 2016 but was in Exeter on a work trip when he received a call about what had happened.
‘My wife called me in hysterics and said I needed to come home as soon as possible’, he said.
He added his family ‘still have a way to go’ before their house is fully repaired, but it has been made safe and a quote is being prepared for its repair.
Mr Ellis, who went to the city’s magistrates court, said: ‘We believe he has learned a life lesson that will impact his future. We hope this lesson will always be remembered by him, so he doesn’t drink drive again.
‘He is very lucky that no-one, including himself was hurt or worse killed, otherwise the sentence outcome would not have been so light.
‘Lucy and our eight-year-old son have been affected the most by the trauma which will take time to get over.’
Police attended the incident and arrested Travell while the gas and heating in both properties had to be turned off for safety reasons.