Amid the rush of panic she felt as the speeding Audi raced up behind her car, the motorist noticed something odd.

She would later recall how the young man and woman in the erratically driven vehicle had yellow balloons hanging from their mouths.

Minutes later, Brandon Williams had hit another car, causing it to spin out of control. His own hit the central reservation after a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre.

Two years later, a court heard that Williams, who had previously used nitrous oxide or ‘laughing gas’, as a recreational drug, was not using it himself but helping his female companion use it in the moments before the collision.

It was fortunate nobody was seriously hurt or killed, although one of the occupants of the car he hit told the court she thought she was about to die.

On Friday, the 24-year-old former Manchester United defender escaped jail after, in his own words to probation staff, “driving like an idiot”. He had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and was sentenced to a 14-month suspended prison sentence, banned from driving for three years and ordered to do community service.

Williams joined Manchester United’s academy aged seven and played 51 games for the first team.

The defender had two spells on loan in the Championship, first with Norwich City during the 2021-22 season and then with their rivals Ipswich Town under Kieran McKenna in 2023-24. His last appearance was as a substitute against Queens Park Rangers on December 29, 2023. He has not featured again, anywhere, since.

He was released by Manchester United last summer, when his contract expired. His future in the game is now uncertain.

Brandon Williams in action for Manchester United during pre-season in July 2023 (Patrick Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Williams’ case is not an isolated incident.

Other footballers have been sucked into a trend that has become popular across society, particularly among young people. To try to combat that, the UK government criminalised nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, in November 2023. It’s now a Class C drug, carrying a maximum prison sentence of two years for repeat serious users.

Nitrous oxide creates a quick euphoric hit and a feeling of relaxation/happiness, but it can affect the nervous system.

It is typically released into balloons from small silver canisters and then inhaled but can also be sold in larger, potentially more dangerous canisters that are used in catering services to whip cream.

Nitrous oxide became one of the most commonly used recreational drugs by 16- to 24-year-olds in the United Kingdom, spiking during the Covid-19 pandemic — but the most recent data from the Office for National Statistics suggested its popularity had peaked.

Some medical professionals have warned about the rise in the number of young people needing emergency care for paralysis and nerve damage, issues they have linked back to the drug.

Dr David Nicholl, the clinical lead for neurology at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, told Sky News in 2023 that dozens of patients aged 16-24 were being admitted to his ward every month after taking the drug.

Meanwhile, in January 2024, Dr Sam Khan, from the Bradford Royal Infirmary, told BBC News he was dealing with three or four cases a week relating to nitrous oxide abuse. Dr Khan said one teenage boy had to be carried into the hospital by his parents following his use of the drug.

In the most serious cases, nitrous oxide can be fatal.

In 2022, a 16-year-old girl, Kayleigh Burns, from Liverpool, died after taking the drug at a house party in Leamington Spa.

In February 2023, student Ellen Mercer, 24, died, with an inquest finding her extreme use of the drug, which included two to three “big bottles” a day, had contributed to her death. Berkshire coroner’s court was told how large blood clots had formed in Mercer’s legs and had travelled to her lungs, causing a sudden cardiorespiratory collapse, The Times reported.

This month, an inquest concluded that 21-year-old Kira Booth, from Burnley, Lancashire, died after inhaling laughing gas while suffering from a chest infection.

Although Chester magistrates court heard that Williams was not under the influence of nitrous oxide when he committed the offence in August 2023, both he and his companion had yellow balloons hanging from their mouths as he drove at speeds of up to 99mph (29mph above the UK’s national speed limit).

“While Mr Williams has previously used nitrous oxide as a recreational drug when he was much younger, he was not using it at the time he was driving,” his defence barrister Richard Little KC told the court. “But he was nevertheless in a vehicle with nitrous oxide and was assisting the front seat female passenger to use it.”

He added: “It is clear that within the last few years Mr Williams has had to live with severe mental health issues and neurological issues. He has received treatment, monitoring, help and care.”

How much of Williams’ background influenced his behaviour that evening only he and those closest to him will truly know. But his barrister outlined the way he spiralled out of control after breaking into the Manchester United team so young.

Describing the account of a coach who is helping Williams to try and revive his professional career, Mr Littler said: “He describes him in this way: after helping him for the last three years his opinion of him is as someone who was incredibly successful at a very young age who had little guidance on the pitfalls of being a young, high-earning footballer.

“Too much money, too soon and an inability to deal with all that brings. He describes this is a common theme that football coaches experience.”

GO DEEPERThe complex story of Brandon Williams: His Manchester United career is over and his future uncertain

In a separate case, Norwich City’s Flynn Clarke was jailed for a year in September 2023 for causing serious injury to three people by dangerous driving. A court heard that Clarke, 20 at the time, was travelling to a rave and nitrous oxide canisters were found in his BMW. He admitted using nitrous oxide earlier in the journey but there were “unclear and conflicting accounts” whether it had been taken at the time or just before the crash, the Eastern Daily Press reported.

He crashed head-on into a motorhome after veering into the opposite carriageway on the A47 near Thorney, in Cambridgeshire.

Clarke was released from prison on an electronic tag under a home detention curfew in December 2023, having served three months of his sentence. He later joined Scunthorpe United, playing in the National League North on loan in February 2024, before signing permanently for semi-professional side Lowestoft Town in August after his release from Norwich.

Just two months into his Lowestoft spell, Clarke suffered a patella tendon rupture playing in an FA Cup third-round qualifying match.

Helen Dixon, a club director, set up a fundraiser for Clarke after his serious injury.

“Everybody should be given a second chance,” she said, as reported by the BBC. “We all make mistakes but he is such a nice person. I don’t condone what happened but it is in the past and we need to move forward and support him.”

In a separate incident, Jamal Baptiste, then 20, was fined after he was seen inhaling laughing gas while driving with a friend in Dagenham, east London, in July 2023, shortly after he left West Ham United.

He pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention and was given six penalty points and a £1,000 ($1,350 at current rates) fine by magistrates in Bromley, south London. He also had to pay a £400 victim surcharge plus costs of £110. In September 2023, Baptiste joined Manchester City before moving to Belgian club Lommel on a season-long loan. He is now at Sheffield United, where he has been playing for the club’s academy.

A particularly high-profile instance came in April 2023, when pictures emerged of former England midfielder Dele Alli with gas canisters and a balloon in his mouth following a difficult loan spell with Besiktas in Turkey. Dele, who spoke in an emotional interview in July 2023 about his mental health issues, tough childhood and time spent in rehab, is trying to rebuild his career at Como in Italy’s Serie A.

In another incident, also in April 2023, striker Connor Wickham, then at Cardiff City, shared a video of himself appearing to inhale laughing gas hours after playing in a home defeat by rivals Swansea City. His manager at the time, Sabri Lamouchi, called Wickham’s behaviour “stupid” and said the striker was “absolutely devastated and sorry”.

More recently, in August 2024, Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Yves Bissouma issued an apology after he filmed himself taking nitrous oxide, with the clips appearing on Snapchat.

Yves Bissouma apologised after being filmed using nitrous oxide (David Rogers/Getty Images)

“I want to apologise for these videos. This was a severe lack of judgement,” the midfielder said in a statement. “I understand how serious this is and the health risks involved, and I also take my responsibility as a footballer and role model very seriously.”

There have been numerous other examples. In December 2018, Arsenal players Alexandre Lacazette, Matteo Guendouzi, Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were filmed inhaling balloons allegedly containing nitrous oxide at a private party. Brighton & Hove Albion’s Shane Duffy, Pascal Gross, Leandro Trossard and Alireza Jahanbakhsh were caught doing the same in Spain on their winter break in 2020.

A string of other high-profile players, such as Kyle Walker, Mason Greenwood, Raheem Sterling, Jack Grealish and Leon Bailey, have also previously been photographed taking nitrous oxide. Walker issued an apology, as did Greenwood after admitting he had been guilty of “poor judgement”. Grealish was issued with a warning by his manager at Aston Villa at the time, Tim Sherwood.

So what are the reasons for its potential appeal among footballers?

One factor is that it is highly unlikely to show up on any testing as the drug metabolises very quickly. “You could use nitrous oxide today, be drug tested this evening and it wouldn’t show,” Ian Hamilton, a lecturer in mental health and addiction at the University of York, told The Athletic.

The substance is also widely perceived as being relatively safe to use, although there are still dangers in inhaling it.

“It’s obviously not as dangerous as Class A drugs like cocaine or heroin,” Hamilton added. “It also has a legitimate medical use, so that can also lull some people into a false sense of security.

“But there are two problems with that. First, they have no training in how to use it and the other is they are not guaranteed to be sourcing medical-grade nitrous oxide. Sometimes it’s not that potent so they re-dose very quickly to get an effect. But the main risk with nitrous oxide in young people is asphyxiation, where they either lose their lives or, at the very least, need to be hospitalised or can become unconscious.

“Young people also tend to use nitrous oxide with alcohol. It’s not very often you see it used on its own. And because they are both depressants, they can have a cumulative effect. So you end up with a greater risk of falling unconscious or being very disoriented and your judgement being impaired.

“On a more mundane level, the risk for someone who is a professional athlete is that their blood oxygen levels are far better than the likes of us. So they are going to absorb the drug quicker and the effect of it is going to be a bit faster as well. So although their fitness protects them in one way, it’s a risk in another.”

Nitrous oxide can also lower the levels of vitamin B12, which is integral for nerve function.

As sport science professor John Brewer told Sky: “If you are a top-level footballer trying to make skilful movements and pass a ball effectively, you don’t want your nerves to be damaged in any way because you need that peripheral ability to sense movements.”

Most clubs offer workshops on safeguarding matters, such as gambling, and concerns around nitrous oxide are now sometimes one of the topics flagged in such sessions. One Premier League manager at a club in Europe this season specifically asked for nitrous oxide to be included as a topic in such briefings to players.

Williams playing for Ipswich Town in September 2023 (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

At one Premier League club, the Football Association’s anti-doping workshop is delivered at the start of every season to all their under-18 and under-21 players. The session covers social drugs, including nitrous oxide, to educate the players on what it is and its side effects. That is then discussed through further workshops, including their under-18s life-skill programme.

A consultant who works in player care, but wished to remain anonymous to protect relationships with his clients, explained how they warned footballers about the drug.

“Until recently, it was legally available and allowed for recreational use,” he said. “Historically, it’s been one of those things where we’ve said, ‘You shouldn’t be doing it, but if you are going to do it, make sure it’s off camera and don’t be stupid with your social media use’.

“I think that’s where a lot of the education will come from… it would be more on the social media side.

“It’s something where we’d push a message of ‘be a good role model’ more than anything else, which might sound a bit weak, but it’s more about the questioning and being aware of who might be filming you.”

Sue Parris, a former head of academy player care, education and welfare at Brighton and founder of The Changing Room, a platform to support footballers navigate the ups and downs of their sport, felt the key issue was trying to understand why players were taking the drug in the first place.

“Nitrous oxide is being used by youngsters, but also by pros as well,” she said. “But for me, that’s not the issue, it’s another substance being used to cover up emotions and experiences that people need to escape from within the football culture. It’s just another avenue some are taking that they feel is a softer option than alcohol or drugs or sex or spending money or gambling. The actual substance is not the issue. It’s, why are they using anything at all?”

When asked about nitrous oxide and whether it was prevalent in football, a spokesman for the Professional Footballers’ Association said it had not yet emerged as a major concern — as opposed to snus, a tobacco product that comes in small parcels, and is then put into the mouth to release nicotine into the bloodstream.

For Brandon Williams, depression and the pressures of professional football led to some very bad decisions that came to a head one August evening when his car, and life, veered perilously off the tracks.

He may not have been high on nitrous oxide at that moment, but the drug played its part in his distressing back story.

It should also heed as a warning.

Whatever you’re going through, you can call the Samaritans any time, from any phone, on 116 123 (UK) or 1-800-273-TALK (USA).

FRANK provides a confidential service in the UK to anyone wanting information, advice or support about any aspect of drugs. You can call free in the UK, from any phone, on 0300 123 6600.

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton/The Athletic; Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)