A VAN driver who caused a horrific four-vehicle crash when he fell asleep at the wheel after a cross-Channel trip has been jailed for two years.

Five people were hurt - some seriously - in the accident on the A172 between Middlesbrough and Stokesley, North Yorkshire, on June 29 last year.

Paul Owens, who has dangerous driving and driving while disqualified on his record, was returning from the Euro 2016 football tournament in France.

The 32-year-old had been selling flags and was returning to the North-East with a friend and his fiancée when it appears he lost his bearings.

He thought he had missed a turn-off to the A19 because of his fatigue, and was trying to get back to Middlesbrough, Teesside Crown Court heard.

His red Ford Transit van was seen speeding up and slowing down and veering onto the wrong side of the road before the head-on rush-hour smash.

The driver of a van - towing a wood-chipping machine, and coming the other way - was able to swerve into a grass verge and miss a serious impact.

But the Transit collided with a Vauxhall Vectra, and a Kia Picanto following the van was also caught up in the carnage, said prosecutor Chris Baker.

Owens' friend escaped with whiplash and cuts, and said: "I hope no grudges. He's a family man and I wouldn't like to see him put in prison."

The man's partner told how she still suffers flashbacks, will be scarred for life from two operations, and said Owens should be banned for life.

The driver of the Vauxhall told in a statement how feared he was going to be burned alive or disfigured as his car filled with choking grey smoke.

He described being "delirious" as he was trapped, and how the pains he suffers now affect playing football and swimming with his four-year-old son.

Speaking directly to Owens in his statement, he said: "I don't know you, but you are someone who I can never forget - a stranger I think about often.

"You may care or you may not care, but I want you to know who it has affected by body and mind. It's an endless rollercoaster I pray to stop, but it won't."

The other van driver - a tree surgeon - said he has been unable to work since the crash, and worries daily about the financial impact on his family.

The driver of the Kia - who was overtaken by Owens before the collision - said she thought he must have been drunk or tired as he swerved about.

Judge Howard Crowson told Owens: "The seriousness in this case is the prolonged period of driving when you must have been aware you were impaired."

Paul Abrahams, mitigating, said the father-of-two had made several stops after setting off from Dover in the early hours, but must have been tired.

Owens, of Enderby Gardens, Middlesbrough, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and was also banned from the roads for four years.