A MOTHER who was hut by a drug driver being chased by police has spoken out about the terrifying moment that put her and her children's lives at risk. 

Sam Robinson, 35, was driving on Goring Lane, near Burghfield, in August when a man high on cocaine in a police chase tried to overtake her.

He was boxed in by an oncoming vehicle, smashing into the side of the Tadley mother-of-two's Vauxhall Mocha, sending the car careering into a fence.

Drugged-up Charlie Hawkins caused a number of crashes with other vehicles during the rampage on the morning of August 6 after taking cocaine.

He was jailed for 16 months and disqualified from driving for three years and eight months in a hearing at Reading Crown Court last week.

Hawkins, 26, of Alder Glade, Burghfield Common, pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving, driving over the limit of cocaine and Benzoylecgonine, possession of a bladed article in a public place and driving without insurance.

Now, Sam has spoken out about the impact this has had on her life, including how she wouldn’t get into a car for weeks.

Speaking about the moment the crash happened, Sam told the Gazette: “I was driving down the lane and I saw that something had run in the road and dodged the side of me.

“Then my car swerved off the road and I realised that someone was trying to get past me. My car went through a fence on the other side of the road. Next thing I know there was a policeman next to me.

“It happened so quickly, I didn’t even know what had happened. It wasn’t until there was police everywhere, a helicopter above and his car had crashed a few feet down from where we had stopped that I realised what had happened.”

The incident caused bad whiplash for Sam, who couldn’t raise her arms above her head, and had to get help for simple things such as washing her hair.

“My children were in the car with me so they were my first priority, but they were fine thankfully.

“I wouldn’t get back into a car, even as a passenger, for weeks. I’m driving again now, but only if I have to, if my husband is with me I make him drive instead.

“Any time I have fast moving cars next to me I get scared. If I hear sirens coming up behind me I panic that there is a police chase happening and it’s going to happen again. I don’t go anywhere near that road, I can’t drive down it anymore.”

However, her eldest son Tate, 8, who was in the car with his younger brother, Oakley, 7, suffered from anxiety in the months that have followed.

“He still gets worried about things and talked about it a lot,” the primary school learning support assistant continued. “He wouldn’t go back into a car for a long time.

“He doesn’t talk about it as much anymore, but he is always worried about where I am. He’s worried that something might happen to me again.

“Now that I’ve explained to him that the bad man is in prison, he’s a lot more comforted about it.”

Investigating officer PC Jamie Payne of the Joint Operations Unit for Roads Policing based at Three Mile Cross, said of the shocking incident: “The manner of Hawkins’s driving was very dangerous, putting a number of other road users at great risk.

“As you can see from the photographs we are releasing, it was just pure luck that nobody was seriously hurt, or even killed.

“Thames Valley Police will never tolerate such reckless behaviour on our roads, and we will always look to bring offenders to justice.

“I am pleased that Hawkins has been sentenced to prison where he can reflect on his dangerous actions.”