Lukasz Borowski, 27, suffered spinal cord damage, a broken spine and brain damage when broken vertebrae cut off air to his brain.

He and wife Ela live in a specially-converted home in Pontefract where they moved after the accident in 2005.

The money – which would have been £10.5m if Mr Borowski had been wearing a seatbelt – will pay for lifetime care. He has been left paralysed from the neck down and wheelchair-bound.

The settlement, announced at Newcastle Crown Court, was secured by injury lawyer John Davis from Irwin Mitchell, who said: "Mr Borowski's life was changed forever in an instant as a result of a crash that was not his fault.

"He will be wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life but cannot move himself and needs help with almost all aspects of daily life – he'll never work again.

"His spinal injury is severe and he has been left with permanent paralysis. He has no effective movements or skin sensation below the shoulders."

Mr Borowski, who came to the UK as a migrant worker from Poland, was in the back seat of a Peugeot 307 in March, Cambridgeshire, in November 2005 on his way to work at fruit and vegetable producer at the time.

The driver, who crashed into a deep ditch at the side of the road, was not insured and she was convicted of related offences in May 2006.

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Lucasz and Ela Borowski relocated to West Yorkshire after Mr Borowski was treated at Sheffield's spinal injuries unit.

Mr Davis added: "The sum was calculated carefully with the assistance of a team of healthcare experts to reflect accurately what Mr Borowski will need to keep him as well cared for, secure and comfortable as possible for the rest of his life."

The settlement has been reached with the Motor Insurer's Bureau which protects the injured victims of uninsured negligent drivers.