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Lorry driver 'fell asleep' before collision which killed city man
A LORRY driver who killed two motorists, including a Peterborough man, after falling asleep at the wheel and ploughing into a queue of traffic has been jailed for four years.
A LORRY driver who killed two motorists, including a Peterborough man, after falling asleep at the wheel and ploughing into a queue of traffic has been jailed for four years.A court heard how Dogsthorpe man Kevin Durcan and David Bush, from Whepstead, near Bury St Edmunds died in the horrific smash.
Their cars burst into flames after David Walker’s HGV slammed into them at the M6’s junction with the M1 and A14 near Catthorpe, Leicestershire.
Leicester Crown Court was told Walker's tachograph later revealed that prior to the crash he had broken rules about how much rest he should take.
It also revealed the 57-year-old was travelling at almost 60mph when he hit the back of the queue – and tried to break just a second before impact.
Passing sentence yesterday, Judge Christopher Metcalf told Walker, who lives in Rotterdam and is a Dutch resident, he had caused “an appalling tragedy”.
He said: “I regard the breach of the drivers’ hours regulation as a major aggravating factor in this case.
“You had not taken the requisite breaks.”
Mr Bush (45) a business manager, and Mr Durcan, 58, a site manager, joined the queue to leave the M6 at around 5pm on November 7, last year.
Adrienne Lucking, prosecuting, said traffic was backed up on the motorway itself, with a line of stationary vehicles stretching for around half a mile.
Yet Walker approached at more than 55mph and struck Mr Bush’s Audi A4, pushing it into another car, which then hit Mr Durcan’s Citroen C5.
All three cars burst into flames, and the two men died almost instantly.
The driver of the third vehicle suffered multiple injuries but survived.
The court heard that after emergency services raced to the scene Walker climbed from his cab and told a fire officer: “It’s all my fault”.
Walker originally told police he had been sending a message on his lorry’s on-board computer, but he later confessed he had fallen asleep.
Walker, who pleaded guilty to two charges of causing death by dangerous driving, was also disqualified from the roads for eight years. Michael Gomulka, defending, said his client wished he could “turn back the clock”.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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