Huyton man jailed after driving into drinkers outside a pub
Liam Naylor hits people outside the Queens Arms following a row
Last updated 24th Jun 2026
A plumber who ploughed his car into drinkers outside a pub on Father’s Day has been jailed.
Liam Naylor, 31, drove his Ford Zetec into people outside the Queens Arms in Huyton, Merseyside, on June 15 last year after an argument inside, Liverpool Crown Court heard on Wednesday.
Sentencing him to two years and 11 months in prison, Recorder Anna Pope KC said: “You used your car as a weapon.
“In the course of a disagreement you had, essentially, the upper hand because you were in a car which you chose to use.”
Naylor, who was supported in court by his partner, parents and sister, sobbed in the dock after he was sentenced.
Holly Menary, prosecuting, told the court the defendant was heard to shout “who the f*** do you think you’re looking at” and “do you know who I am” from his car at people outside the pub at about 5.15pm.
She said as onlookers tried to open his car doors he reversed, then drove forward and reversed again.
“He then ploughed his car into the small crowd that had gathered outside the pub,” she said.
Footage filmed by a bystander showed him run over the leg of John Amore, who had been at the pub celebrating Father’s Day, and then hit another man, who was pushed over a barrier, dropping a pint glass.
Ms Menary said: “Mr Amore only ended up near the defendant’s vehicle in the first place as he had been trying to stop the defendant from driving as he was plainly unfit to do so.”
In a statement, Mr Amore, who was unable to work for nine months after breaking his fibula and tibia, said: “As a result of this small man wanting to fight the world my life has altered.”
He added: “Father’s Day will never be the same for our family again.”
The court heard when Naylor was arrested later that day a breathalyser test showed he had 84 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, more than double the legal limit of 35.
He refused to give a blood sample and told officers he had a phobia of needles, Ms Menary said.
The father-of-two, of Fairclough Road, Huyton, pleaded guilty at earlier hearings to causing grievous bodily harm, dangerous driving, driving with excess alcohol and failing to provide a specimen.
Callum Ross, defending, said Naylor was “full of regret” for his offending and was described in a reference as hard-working and reliable.
He said: “There is perhaps a very different side to him which he is capable of showing in all other walks of life, other than in the minute and a half of footage your honour has seen.”
Naylor was disqualified from driving for 47 months.