Tesla driver in crash looked wrong way after ‘spending summer in Europe’

A Tesla driver injured a motorist when she pulled on to a main road and checked traffic in the wrong direction after spending the summer in Europe, a court heard.

In a “momentary lapse of concentration”, Olessia Willybiro – who had her two young children in the back of the luxury E vehicle – failed to look for oncoming traffic from her right-hand side as she “forgot” she was back in Britain.

As a result, the 43-year-old company director caused fellow driver Damon Campion to crash into her £100,000 car, fracturing his sternum in a “traumatic” collision that the court heard had “totally changed his life”.

Willybiro, who lives in a £2 million home close to the banks of the Thames in Fulham, west London, had been on the continent over the summer where she had been driving on the right-hand side of the road, magistrates were told.

She claimed that upon her return home, “her brain forgot that she was driving in the UK” and she checked the traffic in the wrong direction.

The management consultant has now been handed a community order and been disqualified from driving for a year.

Christina Norgan, prosecuting, told Salisbury Magistrates, Wiltshire, that the incident took place on September 3 last year.

Willybiro had stopped at Willoughby Hedge services on the A303 near Mere, for a “short period of time”.

The Russian-born driver worked in operations and finance for 18 years, but since the pandemic has “dedicated her life to climate activism”, according to her LinkedIn profile.

She was driving a white Tesla Model X which can cost up to £131,080 and has a maximum speed of 155mph, and travels from zero to 60 in 3.8 seconds.

At the time, Mr Campion, a 52-year-old photographer, was driving eastbound towards the service station after visiting his son in Cornwall.

Ms Norgan told Salisbury Magistrates Court: “After taking a break, the defendant left the service station and approached the junction of the A303 with the intention of travelling eastbound.

“She had recently returned from a period of travelling in Europe.

“She pulled her vehicle onto the A303, failing to check ongoing traffic to the right and as she pulled out, the victim’s vehicle collided with the driver’s side door of the vehicle.”

Traumatic event

Mr Campion’s car ended up in the nearby wooded area and the collision caused him to suffer two fractures to his sternum and an injury to his hand.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Campion said he was happy to be alive after the “traumatic” event.

He told the court: “I have to be honest, life seems to be getting harder for me and my ability to cope seems to be diminishing.

“In the aftermath of the collision I was shaken up for a few months. My life has totally changed since the accident.”

The court heard Mr Campion spent four days in hospital after the crash and had to take three months off work.

He added: “In essence, the accident has completely changed mine and my family’s lives and I fear it will never be how it once was.”

Willybiro, from Fulham, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by careless driving.

Representing her, Nick Redhead told the court: “When I was speaking to her, I asked her whether she had been injured in the accident herself to which she replied, very quickly, ‘not physically’, but she then became emotional.”

The lawyer said it was “clear” the accident has left “mental scars” for the mother of two.

He continued: “The accident is as simple as the reason for it – she had been abroad for a considerable number of weeks and of course in continental Europe, they drive on the right.

“Of course, in this country, we drive on the left.

“She came onto the A303, she looked to the left – which would have been correct if she had been driving in France or Germany.

“She pulls out and collision is unavoidable.

“She simply looked the wrong way because she had a moment where the brain forgot that she was driving in the UK.”

Willybiro was disqualified from driving for a total of 12 months.

She was handed a community order, and ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid work as well as pay £199 in costs.