Driver given jail sentence after crashing car before collecting bags, leaving the scene and jetting off on holiday

On Saturday 17 September 2022 at around 1.10am, officers were called to called to a serious collision between three vehicles on Rochdale Road in Oldham, Manchester.

It was established that a BWM 116D attempted to overtake a taxi by entering the opposing side of the carriage way when the driver collided with a Toyota Yaris who was heading in the opposite direction., the BMW then ricocheted off and collided with a further vehicle.

Emergency Services attended the scene, rescuing the three passengers of the Yaris by dismantling the car before taking them all to hospital where they received treatment for their injuries which at the time were described as life changing. 

The driver of the BMW claimed that he had not been driving the car at the time of the collision and that he had been dropped off at the airport by his parents before jetting off to Tenerife with his partner. 

During his two-week holiday, he attempted to report the car as stolen. 

After further investigations by the officers in charge, it was established through a billion to one hit of DNA on the deployed airbag that Taylor Moss (14/07/1999) of Turf Lane, Oldham, was in fact the driver of the vehicle, and he had not been dropped off at Manchester Airport as he originally claimed. 

It was also established that following the collision with the Yaris, Moss and his partner fled the scene and returned a short time later to collect their suitcases for their holiday, which were stored in the boot of the vehicle. 

Moss was later arrested on Wednesday 25 January 2023, at Ashton Police Station.

On Thursday 31 August 2023, Taylor Moss was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court to three years two months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving with no insurance, driving otherwise in accordance with a licence, failing to report a road traffic collision and failing to remain at the scene of a road traffic collision. 

He will serve half of the sentence in custody and the remaining half will be on licence. Moss was also disqualified from holding or obtaining a licence for four years and will be required to take an extended test.

PC Phil Williams from GMP’s Roads Policing Unit said: “I would like to thank the victims and their family for their support and help with this case, this was a truly harrowing experience for them at the time, something they are still suffering with to this day. 

“To flee a scene of a collision is one thing but to come back and retrieve their suitcases and fly off on holiday without any second thought for the victims who were trapped in their vehicle is utterly disgraceful. 

“I sincerely hope that the time that Taylor Moss is behind bars, he realises the magnitude of what he has done and what impact it has had on all of those involved.”