Bereaved Sussex mum urges for complete driving ban for drink and drug drivers who kill
Tracy Venison's 19-year-old son was killed by a driver two times over the limit
A Sussex mum who lost her son to a drink driver says those who kill while behind the wheel should never drive again.
Tracy Venison's son Aidan was heading home from a pub trip with friends just days before his twentieth birthday - when Toby Spiring hit him while driving two times over the limit.
The 19-year-old lost his life at the scene - while his killer was handed an eight year sentence, and a five year driving ban - after which, only an extended test blocks him from being back on the roads.
"It's something that a mum should never have to experience.
"I just went numb. I didn't eat for days, I couldn't think.
"My youngest son was... lost for words. H e had nothing to say. He didn't know how to react. "None of us knew how to react.
"It was just the most awful news anyone could have ever given to us. And it will remain with me the worst day of my life."
Tracy described her son as "an incredible lad", who was "loyal, sensitive, and really caring".
But she feels justice wasn't served for him, when his killer's sentence was cut down after a guilty plea.
"This is a severe case, you have committed that crime, you have pleaded guilty to that crime, then surely you apply that penalty.
"That person is guilty, it's foolproof, it's been proven, he's admitted to it. So why should we then reduce the sentence by a third for a guilty plea?"
Driving under the influence of drink or drugs is one of the five most common causes of fatal and serious injury collisions in Sussex, according to police.
Tracy added: "'I'm not talking about a momentary lapse of concentration.
"I'm talking about a person knowingly getting in the car more than twice over the limit, unable to stand in a police station without two policemen standing either side of him, getting in the car and killing my son."