Nayer Youakim was found to be double the alcohol limit when he crashed head-on into a cab, seriously injuring a taxi driver in North Shields in November 2024
A drink-driving doctor left a taxi driver seriously injured after crashing head-on into his cab.
Nayer Youakim, a registrar training to be a consultant, was twice the legal alcohol limit when he drove onto the wrong side of Beach Road in North Shields, North Tyneside, and smashed into a taxi just before midnight on November 24, 2024.
Following the crash, when police asked if he had been drinking, Youakim replied: “Not too much, two pints.” Tests at the roadside and in custody revealed he had 72 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath, with the legal limit being 35 micrograms, Chronicle Live reports.
Prosecutor Lucy Todd said the taxi driver had just dropped a passenger off before heading home. “He became dazed by headlights coming towards him before being crashed into,” she said. The court heard the taxi spun into the opposite side of the road while Youakim’s vehicle ended up on the pavement.
Ms Todd said: “Officers attended and spoke to the driver of the vehicle, the defendant, he appeared dazed and under the influence, stating he was heading to the Coast Road when the other vehicle came into his path.”
Ms Todd said the taxi driver was taken to hospital with a fractured shoulder and arm, swollen hip and suspected broken ribs. In a victim impact statement, the driver said he was angered by what happened and faces a long road to recovery but added: “I feel very lucky to be alive.”
Youakim, 37, of Lady Byron Lane, Solihull, West Midlands, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving and drink driving.
Recorder Mark McKone KC told him: “You are an ear, nose and throat registrar, a doctor performing surgery in three hospitals, you have done a lot of good for many people. You are training to be a consultant. Your status as a doctor is uncertain and your training as a consultant would end if you were sent to prison.
“I accept you are more likely to be suspended or struck off by the GMC if you were sent to immediate custody. I am sure you will learn from being arrested and coming to court and not offend again.
“You have got very strong personal mitigation, a lack of previous convictions and important work as a doctor. Custody would have a harmful impact on others, you are not married and you have no children but custody could have a major impact upon future patients.”
Youakim, who is based in Carlisle but also works at Whitehaven and Penrith, was sentenced to 18 months suspended for two years, with 250 hours unpaid work, £150 in costs and a two-year road ban with an extended driving test requirement.
Laura Miller, defending, said it was an “extraordinary lapse of judgement”, adding: “At the time he didn’t deem himself to be on the wrong side of the carriageway, of course that is incorrect, we know that is incorrect but in the moment he wasn’t trying to deliberately mislead anyone as to what happened.”
Ms Miller said Youakim feels genuine remorse and empathy and has sought help to understand what made him drink and then drive that night. She added: “It was an isolated incident very much out of character for him.”
