By Chelsea Rocks

A father has been fined after crashing into a police car with his 11-year-old son as a passenger.

Tejinder Chodha, 45, of Milton Road, Gravesend claimed he didn’t see the marked police car before the crash, despite the sirens and blue lights flashing on the vehicle.

He appeared at Medway Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

The crash happened on August 1, 2021, on Cuxton Road in Strood and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to the car after it crashed into the wall of Strood Conservative Club.

Chodha had his 11-year-old son alongside him in his silver BMW when he turned right from the forward-only left lane.

The self-employed carpenter said he had been driving in the wrong lane because it was the “safest way” to make the turn into Roach Street.

He said he did not see the marked police car, driven by Sergeant Darren McGrath, due to Sgt McGrath’s accelerating speed.

Chodha denied he was driving unsafely when he attempted to turn right, telling the court: “I was driving slowly and taking a lot of precaution.

“It’s almost a blind turn into Roach Street so I remained in the left-hand lane so I could see approaching traffic. It was always my intention to turn right.”

Asked whether he took the safety precaution of checking his mirror before turning, Chodha told the court: “The officer accelerated too quickly, I was braking to turn and he accelerated so quickly I didn’t see him.”

Sgt McGrath says he turned into Cuxton Road with his sirens and lights on to alert traffic, before accelerating from 28mph to 59mph in four seconds.

The officer, who was travelling alone, said he assumed Chodha had braked to let him pass, “a common reaction to my sirens,” he told the court.

“He didn’t indicate, the other vehicles on the road also applied their brakes and began pulling in left to let me pass.”

Prosecutor Nigel Pilkington told the court that regardless of whether Sgt McGrath was in a police car attending an emergency or not, Chodha had not abided by the Highway Code when he decided to ignore road markings which dictated that he, in the left lane, could only proceed forward.

The defence argued that Sgt McGrath had almost doubled his speed in four seconds, giving him no time to observe Chodha preparing to turn right and no time for the defendant to observe the police car approaching from behind.

The court was shown nine seconds of dash-cam footage, taken from the police vehicle.

It showed Chodha braking as Sgt McGrath approached, before swiftly turning into Roach Street from the left-hand lane.

Arrows on the road indicated his lane was for proceeding forward only. The footage also showed Chodha indicating right, as he began to turn into Sgt McGrath’s path.

Two witnesses also gave evidence, a driver who had been behind Mr Chodha and a pedestrian who was walking a few-hundred yards from the scene.

Both said they had been aware of the police vehicle approaching for several seconds before the crash, neither could remember whether Chodha used his indicators.

“It’s not illegal not to hear sirens, I wouldn’t intentionally crash into someone..."

Tara Savage, who saw the collision, told the court: “It was all over in a matter of seconds, I just couldn’t believe he swerved right and hit him.”

Asked how many seconds it took from her seeing the police car approaching to the crash taking place, she clicked her fingers and answered: “Like that.”

Immediately following the collision, Chodha was asked by police attending the scene for his account of what happened.

He answered “no comment” to all questions asked by police during an interview, instead submitting a written statement through his lawyer. In court, he revealed he was on his way to Tesco.

He told the Magistrates: “My head wasn’t in a good place following the crash, I was very shaken up mentally by the accident as my 11-year-old son was in the car. I was very depressed.”

The 45-year-old then turned the blame on Sgt McGrath, claiming: “He should have been going slower given there could have been approaching traffic from Roach Street. He would have seen I was turning right.”

The prosecution argued that Chodha seemed to be presenting an argument that he knew better than the Highway Code.

Asked whether he heard sirens or saw flashing blue lights, Chodha said he didn’t hear or see them.

“It’s not illegal not to hear sirens, I wouldn’t intentionally crash into someone. I had my son in the car, I wasn’t intending to kill him.”

Despite his denial of driving without due care, Magistrates found Chodha guilty. He was fined £1,380 and received six points on his licence.