A lorry driver has been jailed for two years after he was found guilty of dangerous driving on the A281 at Rudgwick, near Horsham.
Martin Swabey, 24, of College Road, Southwater, was given the maximum term of two years in custody when he appeared at Brighton Crown Court on Tuesday, January 19.
Swabey had pleaded not guilty to the charge but had been found guilty after a three-day trial in December.
The court heard that Swabey, who worked as an HGV driver based at the Viridor Waste Management depot in Horsham, felt that Ford Mondeo driver Gary Sutton had pulled out in front of him too quickly on the A281 on January 27 last year.
Swabey then chased Mr Sutton and his five-year-old son in his 26-ton Scania waste disposal tanker for three miles before deliberately driving into the side of the Mondeo damaging the passenger and rear windows.
Mr Sutton tried to get away but Swabey caught up with him and ploughed his tanker into the side of
the Mondeo as they reached the roundabout at the junction of the A281 and the A29 at Horsham, causing it to hit a tree.
Mr Sutton and his son were left trapped in the car wreckage and suffered shock and bruising.
Swabey was also banned from driving for four years and ordered to take an extended driving test by Judge Anthony Scott-Gall.
After the case PC Jim King, of Haywards Heath Road Policing Unit, said: “The sentencing of Martin Swabey reflects the serious nature of this incident. Swabey turned his lorry into a weapon, which was used to crush a family saloon car containing a father and his young son into a large tree. It is only by sheer luck, that serious physical injury did not take place. That said, the child involved is still undergoing treatment for the mental scars left, which has cause a strain on his family.
“The Road Policing Unit look carefully at the amount of collisions involving commercial vehicles, along with all other road users. We would encourage people to contact us and report any form of poor and anti-social driving, from drink drivers, uninsured drivers and any other behaviour which causes distress to the law abiding road user. This can be done by Operation Crackdown website of phoning 0845 60 70 999, so we can target these people.”