TOP judges have thrown out a bid by death-crash driver Arnie Rogers to have his decade-long driving ban reduced because the 23-year-old is a danger to the public behind the wheel.

Hit-and-run driver Rogers was jailed for six years and eight months after killing 33-year-old family man Paul Winters on Thamesdown Drive last May, leaving his father with life-changing injuries.

Rogers was also disqualified from driving for 10 years and will have to pass an extended re-test when the ban expires.

His lawyers argued, at London's Criminal Court of Appeal yesterday, that the driving ban was too long, but three top judges disagreed, saying his driving that day was 'utterly appalling'.

Rogers had been out drinking in Swindon on May 24 last year, staying out well into the early hours of the following day, Mr Justice Sweeney told the court.

At about 6.20am on May 25 he was driving along Thamesdown Drive in his Vauxhall Astra.

He was over the drink driving limit and, despite the road going from 30mph to a 40mph dual carriageway, he was traveling at 'extremely high speed, weaving in and out of traffic'.

At one point, Rogers veered onto the wrong side of a traffic island at 70 to 80 mph to overtake another vehicle.

He then drove across a red traffic light without braking, at a speed of 76-87mph, ploughing straight into the passenger side of a Nissan.

Peter Winters was at the wheel of that car and his son was in the passenger seat.

One witness described the force of the crash as being so powerful that the Nissan was 'totally obliterated', the judge said.

Paul Winters was thrown from the car and died at the scene.

His father was left with life-threatening injuries and was 'fortunate to survive, albeit at the cost of ongoing pain and suffering of a life-changing nature', the court heard.

Mr Justice Sweeney said Rogers and his passenger, 'without any care whatsoever' for the Winters, left the scene on foot.

He was arrested less than three hours later having been found asleep on a friend’s sofa, and the first words he said to police was: “That’s £9,000 down the drain then.”

His barrister, Alex Daymond, said the 10-year ban for Rogers, a motor trader, was too severe.

"This is a man who relies on his driving licence for his living," he told the court.

He said Rogers was actively involved in buying and selling vehicles and had to test-drive them and deliver them to clients.

Mr Daymond said that, if Rogers serves half his jail term, he will face having six years and eight months without a driving licence after his release.

The court heard he had been banned from the road for 19 months in September 2010 for driving with excess alcohol, without insurance and failing to stop and report an accident.

Mr Justice Sweeney said: "Rogers had a significant previous conviction for driving offences and his driving in this incident was utterly appalling.

"He created the most significant danger which had fatal and other horrendous consequences.

"It seems to us that the judge was entitled to have at the forefront of his mind the need for the protection of the public from driving of the type of which Rogers was convicted."

The judge, sitting with Lady Justice Sharp and Judge Eleri Rees, concluded: "It seems to us that, although this was a disqualification which was beyond the normal minimum, it was unquestionably not manifestly excessive.

"Accordingly this renewed application is refused."