The wreckage of the car Chris Powell was in
A Shropshire man left with crippling injuries after a drink-driving accident today spoke about losing his business and family after the crash.
Chris Powell, of Woodberry Close, in Bridgnorth, said he had lost everything, including his relationship, since the car he was travelling in hit a telegraph pole and overturned.
Mr Powell said he was lucky to be alive after taking a lift from his friend, who had been drinking the night before.
The pair were on their way to work on the Bridgnorth Road when their car veered off a bend in August 2004.
Chris Powell
Mr Powell was left in a coma for two weeks and now remembers little of the accident.
The 31-year-old said he did not blame his friend, who was killed in the accident, but said people should know what life was like if you survive.
Mr Powell has spoken out to back a campaign by the road safety charity, BRAKE, to increase safety on the region’s roads.
Strain
He said of the accident: “It has ruined my life. I don’t blame my friend for it, but people need to know what happens if you get in a car and have been drinking.
“The 22nd of August 2004 changed my life. My personality changed after the accident and I started to get very aggressive and I wouldn’t listen to people.”
This led to a strain on his relationship with his partner, Julia, and the pair split up last year. His children, Olivia, seven, Luke, four and Henry, three, live with her.
He said: “She couldn’t cope with how I have changed. When I came out of hospital she was my full-time carer, but I have lost her now.”
The accident also saw Mr Powell, who takes morphine every day for back pain, lose his construction business. He was quickly made bankrupt and now suffers from depression and short-term memory loss.
The former builder, who is only now able to speak about the accident, pleaded with people not to drink and drive.
He added: “My life will never be better now. I would say to people, just get a taxi home if you are drinking, it ruins lives.”
By Jason Lavan
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One Comment
A very hard way to learn a lesson.
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