Students’ drink-drive reality check

The mangled wreckage of a car in which a young man died was shown off at Blackpool Sixth Form College as part of a stark anti-drink-driving campaign.
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd Dec 2015, 14:00 BST
The wreckage of a car in which Dan Birch died is being used in a campaignThe wreckage of a car in which Dan Birch died is being used in a campaign
The wreckage of a car in which Dan Birch died is being used in a campaign

Dan Birch, 23, was killed in March 2012 after crashing his Ford Focus into a gatepost at 4am. He was driving home after a night out and was three times over the legal limit.

The car was taken to the college, in Blackpool Old Road, as part of Wasted Lives, a county-wide young driver education programme.

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Student Matt Clare said: “Seeing the car smashed up was a big reality check.”

Former firefighter Martin Biscomb also gave a hard-hitting talk about the dire consequences of drink-driving, especially at Christmas.

Lower sixth form student Ethan Reeve said: “You never think it would be you, and you would always get away with it.”

And Nick Heyworth added: “It’s shocking to see the condition and, although [the damage was] on the passenger side, you wouldn’t expect it would have ended in an instant death.”

Dan’s parents, Helen and Stuart Birch, are working with the Wasted Lives campaign in a bid to avoid further tragedies, and want parents to question their children ‘no matter what age’.

Related topics:Students