Peterborough man who caused death of lorry driver jailed

Tiago Silva, 35, of Welbourne, Peterborough, was working as a driver when he parked partially on the A10 near Waterbeach to make a delivery on 14 May.

Half of his vehicle was on the pavement, but the other half was on the main road causing an obstruction on a gradual bend.

At about 10.30am a refuse truck was driving on the road and was forced to move into the centre of the carriageway to pass Silva’s parked Volkswagen Crafter. As the truck overtook the vehicle the van door flew open causing the driver to react and move further into the opposite carriageway, colliding with an HGV coming in the opposite direction.

The truck left the carriageway crashing through a hedge and going into a nearby field. The driver, a man in his 50s, suffered minor injuries.

Nigel Goodwin, 52, of Huntingdon Road, Lolworth, was driving the HGV and was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital with serious injuries. He died six days later.

Silva, who is a Brazilian national, drove away from the scene and did not leave his details with anyone.

A police investigation later identified him as the driver. However, it transpired he was using a fraudulent Portuguese driving licence in a false name in order to get work as a delivery driver.

Silva, of Welbourne, Peterborough, was charged with, and later admitted, causing death by careless driving, fraud and possession of false identity documents.

On Friday (18 December) at Peterborough Crown Court he was jailed for 30 months and disqualified from driving for two years.

Sergeant Mark Dollard said: “It has never been established whether Silva fled the scene intentionally in an attempt to avoid justice, or whether he was ignorant to the fact he was required to remain. Following a number of lines of enquiry we located Silva in London and he was arrested, and ultimately charged and remanded.

“Had Silva not fraudulently obtained his employment or indeed had a suitable licence that would allow him to drive, he would have known not to park in the manner he did and this collision would have been avoided.

“I hope Mr Goodwin’s family are now able to move on and continue coming to terms with their grief.”

The family of Mr Goodwin released a statement saying: “He was a loving husband and a wonderful dad and will be very sadly missed by everyone who knew him.”