Crash head appeals teaching ban

Paul Davies was dismissed from his job after being struck off

A former head teacher has appealed to the High Court in London against the decision to ban him from teaching after a high-speed crash.

Paul Davies, 52, who worked at Cwmdare primary in the Cynon Valley, was jailed for dangerous driving last year for a crash which left a man in a wheelchair.

He was later banned from teaching for at least two years by the General Teaching Council for Wales and sacked.

Mr Davies is challenging the penalty on grounds it was too harsh.

His barrister, Dinah Rose QC, said the core issue was whether the teaching council's sanction was "fair and reasonable" - and she argued it was not.

She told the High Court, Mr Davies had received extensive support from parents of pupils and fellow teachers at Cwmdare, referring in particular to a petition signed by over 100 parents from the school.

She said there was no clear evidence that the teaching council's professional conduct committee had taken into account Mr Davies's 32-year honourable teaching career and his previous "exemplary" driving record.

Kelvin Palmer has had to live in a respite care centre after the crash

His offence was also committed out of school hours and away from the school, said Miss Rose.

The penalty imposed was overall "so harsh as to be perverse and wrong in law", she added.

Mr Davies was jailed for 15 months and banned from driving for two years for the May 2006 head-on crash on the A465 heads of the valleys road, which forced motorist Kelvin Palmer to spend 10 months in hospital.

He is now in a wheelchair and forced to live in a respite care centre 30 miles from his home.

Mr Davies's driving in wet and windy conditions was described as "lunatic" and as having the "mentality of a boy racer," by the judge during sentencing at Newport Crown Court.

He was initially reinstated to his job as head teacher of Cwmdare in January, following his early release from jail last September.

But the General Teaching Council for Wales (GTCW) ruled a month later that he had brought the profession into disrepute and struck him off the teaching register for at least two years.

Cwmdare school governing body disciplinary panel then made the decision to dismiss him in March.

At the time, it said the decision remained subject to appeal proceedings.

The appeal hearing continues.