A 21-year-old driver has been sentenced to 26 months in prison for causing a building to collapse after crashing into it while using his mobile phone. Daniel Mohammed lost control of his Ford Focus and collided with a takeaway shop in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, on July 20, 2025, around 6 a.m.
Footage from the incident shows the moment the front of the building crumbled upon impact. The car was a total loss. Mohammed's passenger, a woman who knew him through mutual friends, had reportedly asked him to slow down as he was driving with his phone in his hand. She sustained a fractured left collarbone and fractures to two bones in her forearm. Both she and Mohammed were taken to Royal Stoke University Hospital.
Mohammed pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving without third-party insurance, and using a handheld mobile phone while driving. The court was informed of a previous conviction for drug-driving.
Sentencing Mohammed, Judge Graeme Smith stated, "There was a deliberate decision to ignore the rules of the road. You drove at speeds in excess of the speed limit. You overtook a vehicle on the approach to a zebra crossing where the zigzag lines indicate you should not overtake and also on a bend where you could not see whether anything was coming in the opposite direction. You were using a mobile phone at the time. You had been warned by your passenger to slow down but disregarded that warning."
The judge noted that it was astonishing neither Mohammed nor his passenger were more seriously injured, adding that the passenger was the more severely injured party. "You were using the mobile phone and had no insurance. You accept responsibility for what happened. What happened appears to be out of character. However, there was a previous driving-related offence committed earlier last year. I cannot suspend the sentence because of its length," the judge added.
In addition to the prison term, Mohammed received a driving ban of three years and 10 months and must pass an extended re-test before he can legally drive again.