A car washer almost killed a waiting customer when he accidentally pressed the wrong pedal instead of the brake - sending a £60,000 high-powered Bentley careering through a Tesco car park.
Paul Bordache was not allowed to drive vehicles as he didn't have a valid licence either in the UK or his home country of Romania.
But on December 22, the 39-year-old got behind the wheel of former St Helens rugby league star Ian Pickavance in the Waves car wash, and sent it ploughing into five cars and former teacher Michael Collins.
The victim narrowly avoided death after the crash on Tesco's St Helens Linkway store, Liverpool Crown Court heard, and required an immediate blood transfusion to save his life.
Mr Collins spent nine days in critical care, had eight hours of surgery on the first evening, suffered eight broken ribs, and a left ear which needed to be sewn back on.
Three glass fragments had to be removed from his right cheek, and he suffered a fractured skull and vertebrae, a shattered spleen, with 39 screws and six metal plates needed in his recovery.
Prosecuting, Chris Hopkins told Judge Conrad QC: "He[Mr Collins] understands he came very close to death."
The horror smash left teacher Mr Collins, 66, unable to work anymore, and left him with "life-changing injuries" that meant his hobbies of playing golf and going swimming could no longer be enjoyed.
Today, Bordache, of Gladstone Street, St Helens, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, after admitting in police interview that he pressed the accelerator instead of the brake.
The car washer, who has no previous convictions either in the UK or Romania, wept as the catalogue of injuries were read out in court.
Judge Conrad jailed Bordache for 20 months after hearing how the defendant was hugely remorseful for his actions and had written a letter of apology to Mr Collins.
Phil Astbury, defending, said his client had come to the UK to "work hard", adding: "He is well respected and held in the highest regard - there is an altogether [different] side to his character.
"He came here [UK} for a better life, he works hard, and pays his taxes.
"Part of his job was moving cars from time to time, [but] he should not have been doing that.
"He denied he misled his employers - they should have ensured he had a licence.
"There was a cable from a vacuum cleaner and the car was parked on the cable...he was trying to move the car away from the cable, never envisaging for a moment what would occur.
"He's used the wrong foot, his foot caught the accelerator and in that split second the vehicle has reacted in the way it did.
"He was apologising within moments.
"This happened in the blink of an eye, aggravated by the lack of a driving licence.
"This was wholly out of character and this is a man wholly capable of rehabilitation.
"Nothing I say is anyway designed to minimise the impact on Mr Collins - the defendant recognises the appalling harm that was caused that day."
Bordache, whose weeping family were in court, also pleaded guilty to driving without insurance or car licence.
The court heard how the top-of-the-range £60,000 Bentley was written off, along with five other vehicles as the high powered car went shunting forwards.
Mr Pickavance, a strong and hard-running forward for St Helens during the 1990s, had to pay £2,000 just to get his Bentley recovered.
Also written off was a Nissan with £7,000 of damage, a Citroen, a Vauxhall, with £1,200 of damage, a Suzuki, with £3,000 of damage, and a Transit van.
Bordache was disqualified from driving for two years and ten months, and he must pass an extended re-test to get behind the wheel again.
