A supercar driver has been banned from the roads and fined £3,000 for causing a crash in his Lamborghini – and speeding in his Ferrari.
Mega-rich Michael Reader, 39, crashed his £120,000 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder into a red Seat while overtaking other cars at speed.
The black convertible flipped onto its roof and was written off following the incident on the A39 near Wadebridge, Cornwall, in May last year.
Reader and his friend were on their way to a 30th birthday bash when they were left suspended upside down with a fencepost stuck between them.
The construction company boss denied driving the black Lamborghini without due care and attention but was convicted after a trial at Bodmin Magistrates Court.
At the conclusion of the trial he also admitted speeding at 94mph in his Ferrari a few months earlier on the A30 at Temple, Cornwall.
The entrepreneur was fined #3,000 for the careless driving offence and handed a six-month driving ban and a £670 fine for the speeding offence, which took place in December last year.
Reader, from Chelsea, west London, was also ordered to pay a total of £540 in prosecution costs and victim surcharges.
He told Bodmin Magistrates Court in Cornwall that he was “not a boy racer”, and described himself as a successful businessman who “worked hard” and “loved cars”.
Ron Butler, prosecuting, told the court that the red Seat involved in the collision on May 29 was being driven by Christopher Cork with his girlfriend Zara Choke as a passenger.
Mr Cork had overshot a turning and intended to turn right into a disused garage forecourt to turn round.
He slowed, indicated and checked there was nothing coming either way, but as he began to turn Reader struckl him while overtaking vehicles behind.
The Lamborghini veered to the left, went through a hedge and ended up on its roof in a field.
Mr Cork told the court he had been on his way to buy some fudge when he missed his turning.
He said: “The last thing I remember is seeing a black blur and the roar of an engine and the car being hit.”
His girlfriend, Miss Choke, said: “As we started to turn I could hear it (the Lamborghini) coming up from behind us.
“I literally saw a black blur, it was coming so quick.”
The court also heard from Emma Webber, who had been driving along the A39 at around 3.20pm and “heard a loud roaring noise” and saw a black sports car overtake two cars across double white lines.
The car – Reader’s Lamborghini – accelerated away at speed and about three to four miles down the road Miss Webber saw it “flipping across the hedge and into a field”.
Reader later told police: “I only realised it was turning after, it wasn’t obvious at the time, I didn’t mean that.”
After finding Reader guilty, chairman of the bench Robin Bostock-Smith, said: “The line of cars was slowing in reaction to the de-acceleration of the red Seat.
“Mr Reader was travelling at a speed considerably in excess of the other cars.
“He should have been aware of the intention of Mr Cork to turn right and should not have attempted this overtaking manoeuvre.”