A MAN who drove the wrong way down a road then smashed into a car with young children inside has been jailed.

Tamian Saint ploughed anticlockwise around a roundabout seconds before crashing into an oncoming vehicle, injuring several members of a family inside.

The 27-year-old then exited his Mercedes C320 and ran away from the scene without stopping to check if anyone in the Skoda Felicia he had hit had been harmed.

Four of the fire people in the car, a man, a woman and two children, were treated at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester for minor injuries.

Saint, of Springfield Close in Lavant, evaded police overnight but eventually handed himself in the next day.

The crash happened in Oaklands Way, Chichester, on December 27 last year.

He appeared at Lewes Crown Court on September 24 where he was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment for dangerous driving and failing to stop after a road traffic collision.

He was also banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay a £140 victim surcharge.

PC Tom Van Der Wee, of the Sussex Roads Policing Unit, praised the “bravery and perseverance” of the family who were in the car that was hit.

He said: “I know to this day are still affected by what happened”.

PC Van Der Wee continued: “Saint drove at dangerously high speeds on the wrong side of the road in a built up area before crashing head-on with a family travelling towards him.

“He then failed not only in his legal duty to stop at the scene, but also in his morale duty by running away instead of stopping to check if everyone was ok.

“Despite being contacted by police shortly after the collision, Saint refused to return to the scene and it was not until later the following day that he came forward.

“The fact he will be spending the foreseeable future in prison is reflective of the seriousness of the offence and he will now thankfully be off of the roads for quite some time.

“I would like to commend the actions of the members of the public – which includes off-duty medical staff from St Richard’s Hospital – who did stop to offer help to the family and also the members of the public who came forward to assist in our investigation following our witness appeal.

“With their help we were able to clearly evidence to the court Saint’s appalling manner of driving.”