Teenager's Joyride Ends in Fatal Crash After 'Hippy Crack' Use

A 17-year-old driver, already disqualified from driving, died along with two passengers in a fiery collision with a bus. The crash occurred minutes after the group had been consuming nitrous oxide, commonly known as 'hippy crack.'

Jimmy Savory, the driver, had been inhaling nitrous oxide from balloons with friends Star Tomkins, 17, and Harley Woods, 18, before getting behind the wheel of a Mercedes C180 Kompressor. All three sustained fatal injuries instantly when their vehicle collided head-on with a bus on the wrong side of the road near Feltham in west London, just before midnight last March. A fourth passenger, Faye Chownsmith, was the sole survivor.

The collision wedged the Mercedes beneath the bus, triggering an inferno that engulfed both vehicles and trapped the occupants. Firefighters took two hours to extinguish the blaze.

The circumstances of the crash were revealed this week at an inquest held at West London Coroners' Court, coinciding with former England footballer Raheem Sterling's admission of dangerous driving while inhaling the same substance. Savory, described as having "total disregard for other road users as well as the occupants in the car," would likely have faced a life sentence had he survived.

Social media videos posted on the night of the incident showed all four occupants consuming nitrous oxide while driving at speeds reportedly twice the limit. While these videos have since been removed from TikTok, other footage surfaced showing Savory smoking cannabis in a car at night while the driver inhaled from a balloon.

Detective Constable Victor Barkes testified that Savory was seen driving on the wrong side of the road with a red traffic light and that occupants had mentioned needing to put on seatbelts. He noted that Savory was consuming nitrous oxide while driving, appearing to show off to his passengers and displaying a lack of awareness of the drug's effects. The Mercedes was driven at high speed through residential streets.

Around 11:55 p.m., as the bus approached a railway bridge, Savory swerved into the opposing lane to overtake two vehicles, directly into the path of the oncoming bus. The bus driver reported seeing the Mercedes appear "out of nowhere." The sole survivor, Ms. Chownsmith, recalled seeing the bus headlights just before impact.

The bus driver, who sustained no serious injuries, had to exit his cabin as flames engulfed both vehicles. Responding officers attempted to rescue the occupants from the car but were hampered by the severity of the fire and the crushing damage to the Mercedes. One officer described the rescue attempt as one of the most challenging incidents in his 27-year career.

An air ambulance attended the scene, but Savory and his two passengers were pronounced dead. Savory was already serving a six-month driving ban for previous offenses, and the Mercedes was uninsured. A large can of nitrous oxide was found in the car's footwell.

Statements from the victims' families expressed profound grief. Savory's mother described him as imperfect but loving, while Tomkins's family lamented her life being cut short before her 18th birthday. Woods's family spoke of an immeasurable pain and the loss of a young man with a future ahead of him.

Post-mortem examinations confirmed all three died from multiple traumatic injuries. The coroner concluded that the deaths resulted from a road traffic collision, offering the families the small comfort that the deceased likely experienced no prolonged suffering.