Louisa Tunstall, 19, was filmed inhaling nitrous oxide, otherwise known as hippy crack, at the wheel of her Fiat 500 in Wigan before veering onto the pavement and hitting a woman
A woman who ran over a pedestrian just seconds after she inhaled nitrous oxide from a balloon while at the wheel of her car has been detained for 20 months. CCTV footage captured Louisa Tunstall, 19, using the Class C drug, often referred to as “hippy crack”, while travelling in her Fiat 500 in Wigan, Greater Manchester, said Greater Manchester Police.
Moments later Tunstall’s vehicle veered onto the pavement and struck a 51-year-old female pedestrian and then overturned on the East Lancashire Road, Lowton. The pedestrian sustained serious life-changing leg injuries from the incident on the early evening of May 24.
Tunstall, of Bradwell Road, Lowton, received the custodial sentence at Bolton Crown Court for possession of a Class C drug, driving under the influence of drugs and causing serious injury by dangerous driving, said GMP.
She was also banned from driving for two years and eight months, and ordered to take an extended test. In a victim impact statement, the injured woman said: “I would like to say that this incident has had a significant impact on not only my life but my family’s life.
“As I cannot get upstairs, I need someone to be with me all of the time and my daughter has become my full-time carer which isn’t fair on her as she is currently studying at university.
“When I think about the actions of the driver, I feel like she has turned my world upside down. I have missed so much in my life, and I feel that she can just go about her business as normal with no understanding of the consequences for her actions.”
Following sentencing, Pc Stefan Bielizna from GMP’s roads policing unit, said: “It was made clear by the judge that drivers under the influence of nitrous oxide, like in this case, will be given time behind bars if they choose to get behind the wheel.
“Being in possession and especially under the influence of nitrous oxide has similar effects to other drugs and can severely impair your capability to drive. There is no excuse for taking other people’s lives into your hands due to the reckless and selfish behaviours that Tunstall has shown.”
GMP established that Tunstall was under the influence of nitrous oxide at the time of the accident – a drug which has been banned since November 2023. She had also been out to purchase more nitrous oxide to use that same evening.
When questioned by officers, Tunstall stated that she had “taken her eyes off the road to retrieve something in the footwell” before knowing the car had flipped. But witness accounts and nearby CCTV enabled police to establish that Tunstall, whilst driving, had inhaled nitrous oxide through a balloon seconds before the collision.