THE former Justice Secretary Jack Straw has backed The Bolton News’ Drive for Justice campaign.

The campaign is calling on the government to increase the maximum tariff for dangerous drivers who cause serious injuries.

It was launched last week after a driver who seriously injured 14-year-old Devon Foster was sentenced to just 26 months in jail, prompting the presiding judge, Judge Steven Everett, to send transcripts of the case to Prime Minister David Cameron and the Justice Secretary Ken Clarke to back his pleas for tougher sentences.

Yesterday, at the Labour Party Conference, Mr Straw said he would lobby the government to get the sentences increased.

Bolton MPs David Crausby, Julie Hilling and Yasmin Qureshi signed our petition at the conference and said they would collect signatures in their constituencies.

The maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving has been increased to 14 years, but the maximum sentence for dangerous driving, no matter how severe the victim’s injuries, is still just two years.

Mr Straw, who last year proposed an increase from the current maximum two years to five years, said: “The sentences have risen over time but I acknowledged that they were not tough enough.

“I have seen a number of terrible cases and I will be calling on the government to increase the tariffs. The families of victims are not being vindictive, they want society to acknowledge the pain they are put through.

“Tougher sentences will also act as a deterrent for these very selfish people who commit such wanton acts of violence. Devon's case could have been so much worse.”

Drunken driver Christopher Marr, aged 23, was jailed last week for just 26 months after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, driving without a licence or insurance, failing to provide a specimen and making off without payment. Devon suffered horrific injuries and almost died after the car Marr was driving went out of control, mounted the pavement in Darwen Road, Bromley Cross, and hit a group of friends walking home from a party in the early hours of August 22.

Her friends, George Coleman, aged 16, and Jacob Fear, aged 15, were also seriously injured. The judge told Marr that had his dangerous driving resulted in the death of any of the teenagers who were hit he would have received eight years in jail.

Hundreds of readers have already signed our petition and we want even more to back the campaign.