Tom Waldren: Dubbo crash driver’s negligent driving conviction quashed

A driver who crashed his uninsured ‘paddock basher’ hatchback into a tree left his mate with horrific injuries.

A Yass man who crashed his car after swerving to avoid a gumboot on a Dubbo road has been spared a conviction for negligent driving which left his mate with horrific injuries.

After appealing the severity of a sentence handed down in a lower court last year, Tom Maidment Waldren, 22, was handed a two-year conditional release order with no conviction recorded when he appeared in the District Court at Dubbo.

The car after the crash.

According to court documents, Mr Waldren was the driver of a red Ford Festiva hatchback which ended up on the wrong side of Old Dubbo Road and collided with a tree in November 2017.

Two teenage passengers needed to be flown to Westmead Hospital for urgent treatment after the crash.

Mr Waldren’s former school mate Christopher Condon suffered severe injuries, which included bleeding on the brain, a broken skull, smashed bones in his ear, a collapsed lung and fractures within his sinuses.

Court documents state while Mr Condon was able to return to his studies at university, injuries sustained in the crash left him with poor concentration, forgetfulness, headaches, neck pain and fatigue.

Mr Waldren was a P-plate licence holder at the time of the crash and the Festiva was unregistered, uninsured and had recently been purchased to be used as a “paddock basher”, court documents stated.

Tom Waldren. Picture: Facebook/Tom Waldren

A seat belt in the rear of the Festiva was defective, but that fault had not been disclosed when the vehicle was purchased.

The road was wet at the time of the crash and had a gumboot on it, near a bend where Mr Waldren lost control.

After the crash, court documents state Mr Waldren told someone at a hospital that he overcorrected and swerved to miss an object which was the gumboot.

When Mr Waldren was initially convicted of negligent driving causing grievous bodily harm in the Dubbo Local Court in September last year, he was sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order and disqualified from driving for 12 months.

He was also fined $500 for using an unregistered and uninsured motor vehicle.

Mr Waldren appealed the severity of the sentence handed down in the Dubbo District Court and sought no conviction and an end to the disqualification period.

The court heard Mr Waldren was traumatised by what happened to his friend and had an excellent record which included volunteer charity work with homeless and elderly people in the community.

There was no evidence Mr Waldren was speeding and accidents had previously occurred on the same section of Old Dubbo Road where the crash took place and there were no speed advisory signs at the time, the court heard.

Prosecutor Jonathan May told the court Mr Waldren’s driving meant he failed in his duty of care to passengers and fellow road users.

Mr May said a Local Court magistrate found there was “no doubt that an ordinary prudent driver could have avoided the boot” on the road where Mr Waldren crashed.

“The appellant’s negligence had catastrophic consequences,” he said.

Dubbo courthouse. Picture: Jedd Manning

Mr May suggested Mr Waldren had already been given a lenient sentence in the Local Court and benefited from mercy shown via the imposition of a 12-month licence disqualification when there was a three-year automatic disqualification period.

Judge Nanette Williams said it was a terrible collision, however despite finding “the driving that was demonstrated by Mr Waldren fell very far short of what was expected” she quashed the conviction and licence disqualification handed down in the Local Court.

Under the terms of the conditional release order Judge Williams imposed, Mr Waldren is required to be of good behaviour for two years.

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