A Leeds MP who is campaigning for tougher sentences for dangerous drivers has won an award from a road safety charity.
Greg Mulholland, the MP for Leeds North West, won the award from Brake for his campaign which calls for those drivers who have killed or been caught at twice the drink-drive limit, to have their licences automatically suspended.
He launched the campaign following the case of Jamie Still, aged 16, who was knocked down and killed by Max McRae, who was sentenced to four years in prison and banned for driving for five years for causing death by dangerous driving. However, he was allowed to remain behind the wheel with his licence intact for a further eight months until being sent to prison. Now, Jamie’s family and their MP have called on the government to change the law with Mulholland having secured a debate in Parliament.
Julie Townsend, Brake deputy chief executive, said, of presenting an award to the MP, that his support of Jamie’s family and their campaign had been instrumental in getting it to be debated in Parliament. She agreed that it was completely unacceptable that those charged with offences as serious as causing death by dangerous driving are not automatically banned from driving.