An ‘aggressive and bullying’ driver who tailgated a motorist before accelerating to double the speed limit and hitting a pedestrian has been jailed for 30 months.

Simon Hare was doing 69mph on the A657 Leeds Road at Shipley when his wing mirror struck 57-year-old John Lewis, sending him spinning into the carriageway, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Mr Lewis suffered a traumatic brain injury in the collision at 6.15am on August 21 last year that has left him unable to sleep and without his sense of smell.

Hare, 33, of Wellstone Avenue, Swinnow, Leeds, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving in a blue Vauxhall Corsa.

Prosecutor Mehran Nassiri told the court that minutes before he struck Mr Lewis, Hare had tailgated a car through Thackley, getting to within half a metre of the rear bumper. The driver labelled Hare’s behaviour ‘intimidating, erratic and pressurising him to speed up,’ and feared the Corsa would crash into him.

Hare then overtook, accelerated to 69mph and hit Mr Lewis who was waiting at a traffic island in the centre of the road.

Mr Lewis was left unresponsive and bleeding from a head injury. He was taken to Leeds General Infirmary where a CT scan revealed a lesion on his brain.

The direct blow to the cranium left him confused and vomiting, Mr Nassiri said.

Hare returned to the scene to remove debris from the road and to help Mr Lewis, holding his head while he was attended by paramedics.

In his victim personal statement, Mr Lewis said he feared he may have to take early retirement because of ongoing memory loss, confusion, stress and tiredness.

He suffered sleepless nights and was anxious and distressed.

He had become less tolerant to noise, having to leave his grandson’s birthday party early.

Mr Lewis also described ongoing back pain and panic attacks. There was an increased chance of him developing seizures and epilepsy later in life.

Hare’s solicitor advocate, Saftar Salam, said that nothing could be said to reduce Mr Lewis’s suffering.

Hare was doing the “grossly excessive speed” of 69mph for a short period during which the collision occurred.

He told the police immediately that he was at fault and helped Mr Lewis at the scene.

Hare was very remorseful, wanting to apologise personally to Mr Lewis.

He had been a safety expert at the quarry where he worked but had lost the job after an interim driving ban was imposed at an earlier hearing.

Judge Jonathan Rose said that Mr Lewis had suffered a traumatic brain injury and was on medication for depression. He and his family were continuing to suffer the events of that morning.

‘The sentence I am going to impose on you isn’t going to put Mr Lewis back together again,’ the judge said.

He told Hare: “It was just aggressive, ignorant, bullying driving on your part.”

Hare, an acknowledged safety expert at the quarry where he had worked, had behaved like a “bullying, overgrown schoolboy.”

Judge Rose told him he was tailgating, overtaking and doing twice the speed limit “just because you could.”

Hare was banned from driving for four years and nine months and must take an extended retest to get his licence back.