Exclusive:South Yorkshire A&E consultant left young children needing surgery after causing crash near his hospital
“This must be a humiliating and dreadful experience for a consultant physician of some eminence and undoubted skill to appear in the Crown Court”
An A&E consultant left two young children with serious injuries requiring surgery, when he caused a crash at the entrance to his hospital after pulling out into the path of an oncoming driver without giving way.
The victims, a seven-year-old boy and a girl aged nine, suffered two broken legs and a ruptured bowel, respectively, in the collision, which occurred when a Ford Fiesta vehicle collided with a car being driven by the children’s grandfather.
Both children were rushed to Sheffield Children’s Hospital and each had to undergo surgery for their injuries.
The Ford Fiesta caused the crash as its driver attempted to take evasive action after Dr Saad Khan, travelling in a Nissan Qashqai, pulled out into A618 Moorgate Road - a busy main road - without warning.
While Khan was not driving the vehicle that collided with the car carrying the children, he was ultimately deemed responsible for the crash, resulting in him being charged with a criminal motoring offence.
In the moments prior to the collision, Khan had finished his shift at Rotherham General Hospital and had begun to drive home in his vehicle.
He was close to the hospital entrance when he realised he had left something behind at work, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
Describing the events that followed, The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, told Khan: “You decided to return towards the hospital. You executed a right turn into the entrance to the hospital, driving perfectly ordinarily.
“At that stage you made an unwise decision to make a u-turn in the opening to the hospital roadway.”
Khan then proceeded to drive “straight out” onto Moorgate Road, in spite of the clearly marked “give way” sign, which instructs drivers to wait and allow oncoming traffic to pass before moving on to the adjoining road.
“Another car was coming down Moorgate Road. That car, as a consequence of your pulling out, was facing a collision with you,” Judge Richardson added at the hearing held on July 9, 2026. “The car deviated, and unfortunately a car with two children on board was coming in the opposite direction and that car collided with the other car.”
Prosecutor Ian West said that when the collision occurred at around 7.50pm on May 24, 2023, the two children were both in booster seats, with the girl in the front passenger seat and the boy in the back seat.
Mr West said both children were thought to have their seatbelts on when the journey began, but owing to the boy ending up in the footwell of the car after the crash, it is believed his belt may have become unfastened prior to impact.
The boy’s surgery involved him having pins fitted to his two broken legs, and surgical intervention was deemed necessary to treat the girl’s ruptured bowel, the court heard.
No statement, or recovery update, was provided to the court on behalf of either child.
Khan, aged 65, of Walcote Drive, West Bridgford, Nottingham, pleaded guilty to one charge of causing serious injury by careless/inconsiderate driving at an earlier hearing.
Sentencing Khan to a six-month community order, Judge Richardson told him: “This must be a humiliating and dreadful experience for a consultant physician of some eminence and undoubted skill to appear in the Crown Court for sentence…it is a truly shocking state of affairs.”
“This was an unsafe manoeuvre…it was careless, it was a momentary lapse,” Judge Richardson said of Khan’s actions.
Judge Richardson noted the glowing references submitted on Khan’s behalf, and his decades of service to the community.
He said Khan’s cancer diagnosis, for which he is undergoing chemotherapy, amounted to “exceptional circumstances” which allowed him to pass a community order instead of more severe punishment.
Khan was ordered to complete six sessions of a rehabilitation activity requirement as part of his community order, and was also banned from driving for 12 months.