Taylor Moulds crash: The terrible injuries suffered by two elderly women in Seamer Moor Lane accident

Taylor Moulds, 18, has been jailed after last November's crash, when he was a provisional driver and crossed no-overtaking lines on the road, which is known as Dickie Harper's Lane.

His Vauxhall Corsa smashed head-on on the wrong side of the road into a Ford Ka driven by 81-year-old Margaret Arnall, York Crown Court heard.

Miss Arnall, a church layman, and her friend Dorothy Berry, 75, were travelling from Scarborough to York.

Prosecutor Ashleigh Metcalfe told York Crown Court that after the horrendous crash, Miss Arnall was bleeding profusely from her face after her airbag shot out from the sheer force of the collision.

Miss Berry, who was knocked unconscious, suffered numerous catastrophic injuries including a broken collarbone, collapsed lung, a fractured hip joint, an open wrist wound and fracture, multiple bone splinters in her forearm, a fractured chest bone, three broken ribs, two spinal fractures, a perforated intestinal ulcer and severely-bruised breastbone.

She was transferred to Hull Royal Infirmary and spent five months under the care of doctors and surgeons during the Covid pandemic, undergoing several operations to have metal plates fitted, her chest drained and a “wash-out” of her infected wrist wound, as well as further surgery to repair the intestinal ulcer which had caused severe abdominal pain. Her extreme physical and mental trauma resulted in a stroke.

On December 15, she was admitted to intensive care where she spent three weeks before being moved back onto a ward on January 5 this year and then transferred back to Scarborough Hospital, where she was put in a spinal brace and underwent more surgery.

Miss Berry wasn’t discharged until the end of March and now relies on her friend Miss Arnall for round-the-clock care.

Miss Arnall’s own injuries - including severe bruising all over her body and a hand injury which required stitches - were relatively minor compared with those suffered by her friend, who is unlikely to ever fully regain her mobility.

Miss Arnall had since suffered from anxiety, delayed shock and sleeplessness, and endured the “huge strain” of visiting her stricken friend in hospital every day for almost half a year.

She was now Miss Berry’s sole carer at the age of 81, despite suffering “constant pain in my back, neck and knee”.

She said the accident and its “catastrophic” consequences had “changed my life” to such an extent that she had to quit her role as a lay member of a local church and her voluntary work for the Food Bank at a homeless centre.

Due to Miss Berry’s stroke and resultant memory loss, Miss Arnall - with whom she had lived for the past 40 years - now had to teach her rudimentary things all over again at a time when “we should be enjoying (the twilight) of our lives”.

Miss Berry said her once-active social life - which had included memberships of various community groups including the church - had been wrecked.

She now relied on Miss Arnall and daily home carers to wash and clothe her and put her to bed. She can no longer walk unassisted and “cannot even put the kettle on” due to the severity of her injuries.

“Mine and Margaret’s lives have been turned upside down,” said Miss Berry.

“Everyday tasks have become impossible. Ultimately, I’m thankful I’m still alive.”

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