‘Meet-and-greet’ driver jailed after crash kills 84-year-old

Shahani, 39, from Dagenham, London, lost control of a customer’s Range Rover while navigating a bend near Stansted Airport on 26 September 2022.

• EasternEye
• 02 December, 2024

Follow Us

By: EasternEye

A ‘meet-and-greet’ driver, Naeem Shahani, has been sentenced to two years and four months in prison after a collision that resulted in the death of 84-year-old Phyllis Willis.

Shahani, 39, from Dagenham, London, lost control of a customer’s Range Rover while navigating a bend near Stansted Airport on 26 September 2022.

The vehicle collided with a Mitsubishi Shogun in the village of Takeley, Essex.

Phyllis Willis, a front-seat passenger in the Mitsubishi, died at the scene. The driver of the Mitsubishi sustained multiple injuries and spent nearly two weeks in hospital.

Shahani, employed as a driver to move and park vehicles at airports, denied charges of causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving but was found guilty following a five-day trial at Chelmsford Crown Court on 25 October, reported the Daily Mail.

This week, Shahani was sentenced at the same court and disqualified from driving for six years and four months. He will also be required to take an extended driving re-test.

Willis’s family issued a statement saying, “Our family is devastated by the sudden loss of our mother. She was a mother to five boys and grandmother to many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

Detective Sergeant Sam Nason described the collision as a “tragic” incident, adding that his thoughts remain with Willis’s family and friends.