IT should have been one of the happiest days of Eloise McKeown’s life. The mum-of-three had just got engaged and had been to a Manchester jeweller’s to pick out her dream ring.
But as she left the shop she got the phone call that every parent dreads – her son Ryan had been in a terrible car crash and was undergoing CPR at the roadside.
Eloise McKeown was celebrating her engagement when she discovered son Ryan had been in a terrible car crash and was undergoing CPR at the roadside Credit: Supplied
Driver Arran Donnelly, pictured, had been inhaling laughing gas at the wheel of the car just minutes before he lost control Credit: MEN Media
Instead of toasting their engagement, Eloise and her partner raced to the scene and faced an agonising three hour wait at the cordon to be told that Ryan had tragically died.
And to compound Eloise’s agony, she soon learned that the driver Arran Donnelly had been inhaling laughing gas at the wheel of the car just minutes before he lost control on a bend and smashed into a wall.
Now two years on from Ryan’s death Eloise, 52, is calling for a change in the law so that ‘balloon drivers’ like Donnelly face tougher sentences, including a lifetime ban, in a bid to deter others from getting behind the wheel whilst high on ‘hippy crack’.
Fighting back tears, heartbroken Eloise from Stockport says: “I truly believe that that gas caused Ryan’s death. Losing a child is the worst thing that can ever happen to you. Your life is finished. I would be dead too if I didn’t have two other sons to live for. I would be up in heaven looking for him, making sure he is happy.
“It has changed our family forever. He was there one minute and gone the next just because of sheer stupidity.
“If by sharing Ryan’s story it can save lives and change the law, then I feel something positive is being done in his memory.”
Eloise and engineer Ryan, 27, were best friends as well as mother and son.
She says: “He was just really beautiful, kind, caring. On the last Mother’s day before he died he sent me the most beautiful card – the words he had written inside it were just perfect. The perfume he bought me was irrelevant – it was the words. That is the last card I ever got from him.”
Ryan had just been through a bad break up after his fiancee called off their engagement and Eloise believes that was what led him to be in Arran Donnelly’s car that evening.
Heartbroken Eloise says: ‘I truly believe that that gas caused Ryan’s death’ Credit: Supplied
It has changed our family forever. He was there one minute and gone the next just because of sheer stupidity, says Eloise Credit: Supplied
She explains: “He was just going out with whoever was available to take his mind off what was going on. He wasn’t close friends with the lads who were in that car.”
Witnesses said Donnelly, 28, was driving like a ‘bat out of hell’ before the crash in Stockport.
Video footage found on Ryan’s phone showed Donnelly behind the wheel with a nitrous oxide balloon in his mouth at around 5.57pm, just 0.7 miles from the crash site at 5.59pm.
CCTV footage captured the speeding recklessly, with sparks flying as it mounted the kerb.
Further footage showed the car spinning 90 degrees before its right side crashed into a wall.
Eloise says: “We had video evidence. Ryan was participating too – but Ryan wasn’t driving the car. The most frustrating thing is that Ryan would never drink and drive or do anything under the influence. I don’t know why Ryan got in that car that day.”
Donnelly, of Ince Close, Heaton Norris, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for six years and nine months – serving up to half behind bars and the remainder on licence. Donnelly was also banned from driving for eight years and four months, subject to a retest.
Joy Allen, Durham Police and Commissioner, was instrumental in helping to persuade the Government to reclassify nitrous Oxide as a Class C drug.
‘I don’t know why Ryan got in that car that day,’ says his heartbroken mum Credit: Supplied
The scene of the crash in Stockport Credit: MEN
She believes social media has also fuelled the deadly trend for balloon driving as often young people film themselves using balloons whilst driving at speed to post online.
“Often they are doing it to film, to put it on Instagram, Snapchat,” she explains. “So there is a link to the social media aspect. They aren’t just speeding whilst taking nitrous oxide, they are videoing themselves doing it.”
Joy plans to highlight Eloise’s campaign with police forces across the country and is also calling for the Government to consider a graduated scheme – as is about to be introduced in Northern Ireland later this year – so new and young drivers would have night-time curfews and a limit on the number of young passengers they can carry.
She explains: “It is about young people in a car together, taking nitrous oxide in the early hours of the morning, and risk-taking behaviour. And that is where some of the deaths are occurring.
“It is not just the people in the car that are at risk, it is the people that they may crash into as well.
“I think that what they don’t realise is that they can lose consciousness any time after they have taken the drug. They might feel fine, and the effect goes but it could trigger them to then lose consciousness at the wheel and they could end up killing themselves, their passengers or other road users.
“On a graduated driving licence young people are restricted from driving at certain times of the night in a car together. Our Government is reticent at the minute. But in some countries it has reduced deaths by 40 per cent.”
Sadly – as Joy has seen so many times – Ryan’s tragic death is not a one-off case.
Traffic officers across the country have seen the devastating effects of ‘balloon driving’ soar as drivers and passengers have been killed or left with life-changing injuries in horror accidents as a result of the banned Class C drug.
A report by The Lancet revealed it is now the UK’s third most commonly used drug after and cocaine.
And while many users believe it to be harmless, nitrous oxide can be addictive, cause psychological problems including delusions, hallucinations and paranoia, as well as physical problems including deep vein thrombosis.
When inhaled through a balloon it can produce euphoria, relaxation, dizziness, giggling or laughing fits, and impaired judgement.
If by sharing Ryan’s story it can save lives and change the law, then I feel something positive is being done in his memory, says his mum Credit: Supplied SURGE IN DANGEROUS DRIVERS
ROAD safety charities are also concerned about the scourge of balloon drivers on our streets, and are warning motorists of the deadly consequences.
IAM RoadSmart Policy and Public Affairs Manager, William Porter, said: “Any driver who gets behind the wheel while impaired by drugs poses a serious risk to themselves and other road users. While nitrous oxide may be perceived as a less serious intoxicant owing to its class-C categorisation, its effects can include dizziness, impaired judgement and slowed reaction times, all of which are incompatible with safe driving.
“The development of more effective roadside detection methods, as seen with the current pilot programme for laughing gas breathalysers, provide police with another valuable tool to identify and deter drug-impaired drivers. Alongside robust enforcement, it is vital that motorists understand that driving after taking any substance that affects their ability to control a vehicle can have potentially devastating consequences.
“Eradicating drug-driving must remain a priority if we are to improve road safety and prevent deaths and serious injuries on our roads.”
But that makes it a deadly combination when someone gets behind the wheel, impacting reaction time and driving skills – particularly at speed or if the unexpected happens.
A Dutch study found road traffic incidents there involving nitrous oxide increased by 80%, from 2652 incidents in 2019 to 4860 in 2021.
The drug was involved in almost 1800 road traffic incidents during a 3-year period, including 63 fatal incidents.
As a result the Dutch government banned nitrous oxide in 2023, making it illegal to buy, sell or own the gas.
Joy Allen, also joint lead of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, says: “You think of the Dutch as being quite liberal when it comes to drug use. But they linked nitrous oxide to deaths on the road. We pushed the Government here and they classified it as a drug, they didn’t completely ban it, but it is unlawful to use it in a public place.”
But despite it being classified as a Class C drug here in the UK for unlawful use since 2023, it can still be bought without a licence for everyday uses such as for whipped cream machines or car maintenance.
This means it is still cheap and easy to buy online, and larger cylinders containing roughly 70 times the amount of nitrous oxide of traditional canisters have become available since 2017.
Manufacturers are now producing 2000g cylinders which also come in various flavours, such as pineapple and coconut – despite there being no legitimate use for scented gas in the catering industry.
Fifteen-year-old Bonney-Rae Burrow tragically captured the last moments before a killer crash Credit: SWNS
She snapped Cameron Hughes driving while inhaling laughing gas, before he smashed the vehicle into a ravine Credit: SWNS
Hughes was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison Credit: SWNS
In 2023 Thames Valley Police officers saw first-hand the life-shattering impact of nitrous oxide when three teenage boys were killed when they were passengers in a car that crashed into a tree along the A415 in Oxfordshire.
The 18-year-old driver was filmed inhaling laughing gas behind the wheel just moments before the crash.
Thomas Johnson was travelling at speeds of up to 100mph before his car hit a tree in the village of Marcham, killing passengers Ethan Goddard, Daniel Hancock, both 18, and Elliot Pullen, 17.
Johnson, 19, was jailed for nine years and four months at Oxford Crown Court after pleading guilty to three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
The victims’ families called Johnson a “cocky teenage boy” who was showing off and urged others “not to be that driver who shows such disregard for their friends’ lives”.
Now cops in Thames Valley and Hampshire are trialling the world’s first ‘laughing gas’ breathalyser in a bid to deter drivers from using balloons.
Acting Superintendent Emma Hart, of the Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary and Thames Valley Police, said: “There is currently no device available that can prove a driver inhaled laughing gas, making prosecution difficult. That is why our forces are leading this testing phase, to break new ground and prove these devices can help save lives on our roads.”
The device, created by Respira Technologies following research at the Vrije Universteit Amsterdam, is believed to be one-of-a-kind.
Karen Kimblin died after Mohammed Irshad inhaled laughing gas shortly before colliding with the car she was a passenger in Credit: SWNS
Nadia Yusuf, 17, was killed in the high speed accident in Manchester Credit: MEN Media
Rohail Jillani, 25, was jailed for eight years and eight months over the horror smash that killed Nadia Credit: MEN Media THE HEARTBREAKING CASES THAT DEVASTATED FAMILIES
THERE are many more grieving families across the country who have been left to pick up the pieces of this devastating trend.
In July 2023, an innocent teenage girl filmed a drug driver inhaling laughing gas just moments before she was killed in a horror crash.
Bonney-Rae Barrow, 15, captured her last tragic moments on video as the van she was a passenger in left the road, smashed through a metal barrier and plunged five metres down a ravine.
But the teenager also caught the moment driver Cameron Hughes, a family friend, whilst behind the wheel.
Police said during the 35-minute journey from Manchester to Huncoat, Lancashire, they received multiple calls about the van’s bad driving. Hughes was said to be zooming along the hard shoulder, straddling between lanes and at one point the van bounced off a kerb while travelling at more than 60mph. Hughes, 24, suffered only minor injuries in the crash that claimed Bonney-Rae’s life.
He admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was locked up for seven and a half years. He was also banned from driving for eight years.
In June 2023 mum Nasrin Saleh, 26, was jailed after killing her passenger when she crashed into a roundabout high on nitrous oxide. Saleh’s Golf GTI hit a brick wall by a roundabout before flipping and bursting into flames. A taxi driver rescued Saleh but could not save her passenger Luqman Mehboob.
CCTV footage had shown the car travelling at 103mph in a 40mph zone. At the scene of the crash, the single mum admitted that both she and her passenger had been “doing balloons” and taking it in turns to drive despite neither having insurance.
She was jailed for four and a half years at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting causing the death of her 28-year-old friend by dangerous driving.
In February this year Mohammed Irshad, 36, was jailed for 10 years after being found guilty of causing the death of a beloved grandmother by dangerous driving.
He had inhaled the substance before he drove his Mercedes into a Nissan on the opposite carriageway of St Helen’s Road, Bolton, in June 2024, Greater Manchester Police said.
Karen Kimblin, 63, who was a passenger in the Nissan, died while her husband Ken, who was driving, was seriously injured. Mrs Kimblin, who worked as a nurse, was described as the most loving and caring woman by her husband.
The couple were married for 43 years and heartbroken Mr Kimblin said: “To this day I still can’t believe that I’ll never see Karen again.”
In May 2022, a teenage driver high on cocaine and laughing gas killed a mum-of-three after smashing into her outside a Wigan pub.
Jacob Gaskell, who also injured two other pedestrians when he mounted the pavement in Ormskirk Road, Pemberton, had been inhaling laughing gas from a balloon at the wheel of his Land Rover Freelander before the hit-and-run crash.
Cowardly Gaskell then fled the scene on foot as 44-year-old teacher Laura Hazeldine lay dying outside a pub.
Gaskell, of Marlbrough Avenue, Ince, was jailed for nine years at Bolton Crown Court. He was also banned from driving for a further 10 years upon his eventual release from prison.
In January 2022 a speeding driver filmed himself inhaling nitrous oxide balloons before ploughing into a wall and killing his teenage passenger.
Rohail Jillani, aged 18 at the time, had been driving his Mercedes at almost 100mph before crashing into a railway bridge on the Mancunian Way, Manchester in January 2022.
In Snapchat footage, he can be seen with no hands on the wheel as he raced at 98mph and gloated about his “big day”.
Star student Nadia Yusuf, 17, was in the passenger seat and died in the collision.
A third person in the car – a male aged 18 at the time – sustained significant life-changing injuries.
Jillani was sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison at Manchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.
He was further disqualified from driving for nine years and ten weeks
A user can simply breathe out into the portable device and receive a test result within minutes. Crucially, it can detect if a user has inhaled nitrous oxide up to two hours afterwards.
And Ryan Evans’ grieving mum Eloise is hoping the trial proves a success so that balloon drivers like the one who claimed the life of her son Ryan could face even tougher sentences.
She says: “The police found canisters in the car, there was the video from Ryan’s phone which showed Arran Donnelly with the balloon in his mouth. But because there wasn’t a test available which could prove he had laughing gas in his system, he wasn’t charged with drug driving.
“I hope that the trials of this new breathalyser are successful so that drivers who use balloons behind the wheel can face tougher charges and sentences.
“How many more people need to die before people recognise that this is a drug that influences your behaviour? In my eyes if people are driving while using balloons they have turned that car into a lethal weapon – they are at risk of killing people in the car and people walking down the street. The sentences handed down just don’t reflect that.
“Arran Donnelly is probably only going to serve three years. As far as I am concerned he killed my son with his actions. I’m not saying it was intentional, but he’s an adult, he knows what he is doing. He’s got a child. How would he feel if it was his child? He’s still going to see his child grow up – I am never going to see my son again.
“I believe anyone caught driving whilst under the influence of should get a lifetime driving ban.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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