A NEWBURY man, left severely disabled after a driver using his mobile phone ploughed into his car, has spoken out about life after the horror crash.

Speaking to the Newbury & Thatcham Chronicle the day after the driver was sentenced, Robert Nixon said his life changed forever in that instant.

The father-of-three added: “Life had never been so good for me.

"I had a lovely business; I had moved in to a lovely house, which we had spent 18 months doing up; and we were looking forward to holidaying in the States.

“Everything in life at that time was absolutely perfect.”

But everything changed on September 11, 2015. Mr Nixon was returning home from Marlborough along the A4, at Froxfield, when his car was hit by another vehicle being driven by Keith Burdess.

In the devastating aftermath of the crash consultants described the bones in Mr Nixon’s feet as “like a box of cornflakes” and even considered amputating them.

However, after five months in hospital; 12 weeks of intensive physiotherapy; and a future full of more operations, Mr Nixon is slowly learning to walk again..And he wanted to thank everyone who has helped him along the way – from the fire crews that cut him out of the wreckage and the air ambulance crew that flew him from the scene of the crash, to the surgeons, doctors and nurses who put him back together and the physiotherapists at The Wessex Centre, in Salisbury, who made him realise he could walk again.

He also paid tribute to his family, particularly his partner Rita, who had to give up her job as a nursery nurse to care for Mr Nixon in the early days – and try to keep his thriving tiling business afloat.

Last week Mr Burdess appeared in a Winchester Crown Court having pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He was given a 15 month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

“I am not interested in the outcome,” added Mr Nixon, who is now confined to a wheelchair for most of the day and is on a cocktail of pain killers, anti-depressants and sleeping tablets to combat the flashbacks.

“It just brings back memories of the crash and I feel like he’s got away with it.

"It doesn’t bring anything to an end for me.

“He’s gone home with his family now, but I cannot move on with my life.”

Mr Nixon said he wanted people to realise what harm taking their eye off the road for even a few seconds can do.

“If ever there was proof of what driving and talking on a mobile phone can do, I am it,” he added.

“If one good thing can come of this devastation, it would be for people to stop using mobile phones at the wheel.

"That one stupid decision has changed my life forever.”