A LORRY driver who ran over a drug pusher as he fled the scene of a deal has been jailed.

Former Hatfield schoolboy Michael Doody was half in and half out of Thomas Taylor’s flatbed lorry at the time, when the driver panicked and tried to speed off.

As the vehicle made off with the gears crunching and tyres screeching, Mr Doody fell out and under the rear wheels, St Albans Crown Court heard.

Mr Doody suffered massive injuries, including a shattered pelvis.

The incident led to his mum, Polly Havard, of Chace Avenue, Potters Bar, keeping a vigil at his hospital bedside.

“He was broken in half,” she told our Potters Bar Edition at the time.

The court heard paramedics who arrived at the scene in Reed Close, London Colney, didn’t think he would survive the night – but he pulled through against all odds.

On Friday, Taylor, 19, admitted causing grievous bodily harm.

Neil King, prosecuting, said it was around 9pm on May 6 last year that Taylor found himself behind the wheel of his lorry having agreed to take someone to meet Mr Doody and buy cannabis from him.

The prosecutor said there was no suggestion Taylor was out to buy drugs, but was simply driving someone who was.

Mr King then told the court how in Reed Close – just yards from Mr Doody’s front door – “something went awry”.

Mr Doody had been standing outside the vehicle but for some reason suddenly appeared to be half in and half out of the vehicle.

The result was that Taylor sped away from the scene and Mr Doody fell back onto the road and was run over.

Mr King said he had not been expected to survive because of his injuries but had, and has since undergone surgery to rebuild his pelvis.

Mr Doody, a former Onslow St Audrey’s School pupil, had been bedridden for months following the incident but now can walk with the aid of a crutch.

However, the 25-year-old was likely to have reduced mobility and would not be able to play sports again.

Alex Radley, defending, said Taylor had panicked at the scene and driven off.

“He had no idea he had driven over him and had he done so he would have stopped.”

The court heard Taylor was arrested a short while later having been traced to a nearby travellers’ site.

Passing sentence, recorder Simon Bryan QC said it had been a “very serious incident”.

Taylor, of Ingram Road, Walsall, was sentenced to 21 months in a young offenders’ institute.

He was ordered to pay his victim �1,000 compensation, and a further �2,000 costs.