Mum haunted by son’s death in Wisborough Green drink-drive crash

“To hear those words, that unfortunately Aidan’s died, I think they will haunt me the rest of my life.”

Tracey Venison says she still wakes up “every day hoping that it’s not real”, 16 months after her son was killed by a drink-driver.

Aidan Venison died in a crash near Wisborough Green, West Sussex on 30 June 2024 – two days before his 20th birthday.

Ms Venison said she did not think people realised drinking then driving “can just change someone’s life forever”.

She broke down in tears while telling the BBC about the “devastating” night she was woken up by a knock on the door and told her son had been killed.

“I think you just go into this utter disbelief that your son’s gone,” Ms Venison said.

“You’re not meant to lose your kids. They’re meant to bury you, not the other way around.”

She said she had felt “so hopeless in the situation” initially, but later it “just makes you angry”.

She has stressed “there’s no need” for anyone to drink or take drugs and then drive.

“The moment you take drugs, the moment you have a drink, you are not reactive enough to be able to do things,” Ms Venison said.

She added: “People out there are taking people’s lives and creating havoc, heartbreak, hopelessness for the families that are left behind.”

Toby Spiring, 28, from Littlehampton, pleaded guilty to causing Aidan’s death by dangerous driving.

A judge sentenced him to eight years in prison and a five-year driving disqualification.

Spiring had been drinking at a pub and was twice the legal drink-driving limit, according to Sussex Police.

Ms Venison said: “We’ve lost such a lovely lad, such a beautiful person, to something that’s so easily avoided.”

She and her husband Darran Venison joined officers during routine roadside drink and drug-driving checks in Shoreham-by-Sea on Friday.

Sgt Steve Lambeth of Sussex Police’s roads policing unit said his colleagues stop drivers “particularly in the build-up to Christmas and New Year”.

The checks protect the public and act as a deterrent to other people, he hopes.

In the 2024 winter campaign, the force said it had arrested nearly 250 people.

“The personal effects of drink and drug driving, it always amazes me that people are still prepared to take the risk,” he said.

“I’m a family liaison officer (FLO) as well, so if we’re preventing any serious collisions, any fatalities, then hopefully that’s one less deployment for myself and my fellow FLOs.”

According to government data, police reported 190 fatal crashes in Great Britain involved a driver or rider affected by alcohol and 149 involved one affected by drugs in 2023.

Ms Venison said her son “wasn’t just a number, my son was a person” and she thought it was “important that we do whatever we can to stop” drink and drug-driving.