| JANUARY 2007 |
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| DIGGER CRASH PLEA - A man has admitted causing death by dangerous driving after a car crashed into his broken-down digger on a dark country road. The digger had a faulty fuel gauge and ran out of fuel at Boudan, Gwynedd. It was then hit by a car and the 25-year-old driver died. Caernarfon Crown Court was told the digger driver, Mark Parry, knew the vehicle was in a dangerous condition and would not complete its journey in daylight. He has been warned that he faces a jail term. |
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| OFFICER FINED - The traffic spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers was fined £500 after failing to identify the speeding driver in one of his force's cars. Meredydd Hughes, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire, said he had not been able to identify the driver of the vehicle, which was caught travelling at 47mph in a 40mph zone. |
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| DECEMBER 2006 |
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| UNLAWFUL DEATHS - Four minibus passengers from Hungary and a lorry driver were unlawfully killed in a crash on a Lincolnshire road, a coroner has ruled. A verdict of accidental death was recorded for the Portuguese minibus driver who had been working long days without taking the required breaks and was described as carrying out an "unbelievable overtaking manoeuvure". His employers - Interstaff - had failed to carry out a proper risk assessment, the inquest also heard. |
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LORRY DRIVER JAILED - A lorry driver was jailed for three years at Northampton Crown Court after falling asleep at the wheel and killing three members of the same family. |
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STUCK! - A lorry driver who blindly followed his sat-nav system was stuck for three hours in a narrow road and demolished several walls in a village near Burnley. |
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| POLICE SPEEDERS - Seven police forces that responded to a speeding survey admitted that one of their officers was involved in the worst incident in their area. None of the officers were prosecuted because they said they had to break the limit to carry out their duties. The cases included a Tayside officer responding to a 999 call at 149mph, a Surrey officer chasing a stolen car at 142mph and a City of London officer travelling through urban streets at 84mph. Safe Speed accused the police of "appalling hypocrisy". |
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"LENIENT" SENTENCE INCREASED - A taxi driver who drove for a mile with a teenager trapped under his cab had his sentence increased from three to five years by the Court of Appeal. The driver had pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but judges said the sentence was "unduly lenient". A 17-year-old walking home in West Bromwich had stepped in front of the taxi. |
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MINIBUS DRIVER JAILED - A minibus driver who killed two people when he collided with a car had regularly been working 15 hours a day with just six hours sleep. Nichhatar Singh, who was transporting migrant workers, did not hold an adequate licence and was uninsured when he crashed in Lincolnshire last year. He was jailed for five years after admitting two charges of causing death by dangerous driving. |
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| FATAL TEXT MESSAGE – A lorry driver who killed a mother-of-two while reading a text message has been jailed for three years at Newcastle Crown Court. The teacher was driving one of the vehicles he hit when his lorry smashed into a queue of cars on the A1. |
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November 2006
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TIRED DRIVER JAILED - A lorry driver who fell asleep at the wheel, causing a crash that killed a woman and injured her young son, has been jailed for two-and-a-half years. He had exceeded his quota of hours and not taken breaks. |
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| SPEEDING "TAKEAWAY" POLICEMAN CLEARED - A traffic policeman has been cleared of doing 48mph in a 40mph zone in Rotherham while on his way to collect a Chinese takeaway. A District Judge accepted his claims that while going to collect the meal he heard of an accident and increased his speed to go to help other officers. But he soon realised he would not be needed and decided to continue on his way to the restaurant. He did not tell his supervisors he was going to the accident and did not take the quickest route. Speed limits do not apply to vehicles being driven by police to carry out official duties. Police disciplinary inquiries continue. |
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| SPEED LIMITERS - From January 1, vans and commercial vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes that have been registered since 2001 will have to be fitted with speed limiters to stop them exceeding 56mph. The European regulations will be extended to cover vans of any age on January 1, 2008. |
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BRIDGE WARNING - A lorry was blown off Londonderry's Foyle Bridge in strong winds that would have closed all comparable bridges in the UK to high-sided vehicles, an inquest heard. A coroner described the driver's death as a "tragic accident". |
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| FACING JAIL - A lorry driver has been found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving after two children aged 13 and 12 were killed in a crash on the A38 in Staffordshire. Stafford Crown Court was told he had been on the phone when his lorry hit the car in which the children were travelling, causing it to land on its roof. He denied he was using a phone. Sentencing has been adjourned until January when he has been told he faces prison. |
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| TAXI DRIVER CONVICTIONS - An Antrim man who worked as a taxi driver even though he had 50 convictions for driving while banned has been jailed for 19 months, banned again for five years and fined £1,000. |
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| ACCIDENT VERDICT - Verdicts of accidental death have been recorded on 11 tourists who died after a speeding coach went off a motorway and crashed in France 16 years ago. Six passengers from Shropshire and five from the West Midlands were killed. The coroner said the deaths had been aggravated by excessive speed and a failure to check tyre pressures. |
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| October 2006 |
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| FOREIGN LORRY THREAT - More than a third of foreign lorries stopped by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency during two days of checks at Dover and Holyhead were taken off the road because they were unsafe. |
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| POLICE OFFICER ON PHONE - A senior police officer has been officially reprimanded after a motorist spotted him driving while talking on his mobile phone. Chief Superintendent Guy Darby, the area commander for East Surrey Police, also donated £30 to charity after admitting the incident. He could not be formally fined because a police officer did not observe the offence being committed. |
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| BUS BAN - The wife of the owner of a minibus firm which was involved in the death of a schoolgirl has been given a two-year bus operating ban. The owner was already disqualified from running a bus company for five years for using an unlicensed driver and unroadworthy vehicles. But a public inquiry in Cardiff heard his wife had taken over the firm and changed its name. |
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| FOREIGN BUS DRIVER JAILED - A Polish bus driver who caused the death of a teenage passenger after he drove on the wrong side of the road and crashed into an oncoming car was jailed for two years at Exeter Crown Court. |
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| PC FINED - A policeman who knocked down two men, killing one, when his van mounted a pavement in north London as he responded to a 999 call has been fined £500, after admitting driving without due care and attention. |
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| September 2006 |
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| FATIGUE DRIVER CASE - A lorry driver accused of causing the death of his girlfriend in a crash because he fell asleep at the wheel has denied causing death by dangerous driving. It is alleged that he feel asleep while driving in the Scottish Borders after seven and a half hours at the wheel without adequate sleep, rest or refreshment. His defence team claims he suffers from the sleep disorder “narcoleptic syndrome”. The trial continues. |
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| TEXTING DRIVER AWAITS SENTENCE - A lorry driver who killed a woman when he smashed into her car as he was reading a text message has admitted causing death by dangerous driving. The 26-year-old, who was also not qualified to drive an HGV, ploughed into queuing cars on the A1 near Denwick. He awaits sentencing at Newcastle Crown Court. RoSPA said the case showed that courts would take mobile phone use into account as an aggravating feature in crashes. |
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| DEATH DRIVE FATHER - A father whose two-year-old daughter was killed when he allowed an 11-year-old boy to drive a lorry has admitted manslaughter by gross negligence. The toddler was crushed under the wheels of the lorry at her father's waste management firm in west London. |
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| SPEED KILLED - An Aberdeen lorry driver's speeding caused a crash in which he was killed, a sheriff ruled. He was travelling at 53mph when 40mph was the legal limit for his vehicle when he crashed on the A99. |
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| PC'S BAN REDUCED - A police officer whose patrol vehicle hit a pedestrian who later died has had her 15-month driving ban reduced to eight months. Lewes Crown Court heard she had been convicted of careless driving, but had been answering a 999 call at the time. |
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| LAPTOP DRIVER - A saleswoman was caught driving down a Swiss motorway using her laptop and chatting on a hand-held mobile phone. Police stopped her because she was zig-zagging across the carriageway. The woman said she was unaware of any wrongdoing and was driving like she always did. |
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| August 2006 |
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| POLICEMAN WALKS FREE - Pc Mark Milton, who travelled at speeds of around 150mph on the M54 in Shropshire while testing out his new car, was found guilty of dangerous driving, but given an absolute discharge. RoSPA said the sentence sent out the wrong message to motorists. |
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| DANGEROUS LORRY - The driver of a 44-ton articulated lorry was involved in a "prolonged course of very bad driving" along one of Stafford's main roads, the town's Crown Court heard. During the incident, he flashed his headlights and blew his horn at an unmarked police car, which was forced to drive into a kerb to get out of the way. The driver pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and will be sentenced at a later date. |
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| PC'S BAN CUT - A Sussex police officer who was banned from driving for four years after a crash near Gatwick Airport in which a woman died has had his sentence reduced by a year. The Appeal Court also set aside an order for Pc Nicholas Andrews-Faulkner, who was convicted of careless driving, to retake his test and have nine points put on his licence. Pc Andrews-Faulkner had been taking a drunken prisoner to a police station at the time of the crash, which happened when he drove through a red light. |
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| CART DRIVER DRUNK - A farmer drank 20 pints of Guinness and five alcopops before trying to drive home in a horse and cart in Hertfordshire. The man, who had previously been banned from driving for another offence, admitted being drunk in charge of a horse and cart and will be sentenced next month. |
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| MOBILE PHONE DEATH - A lorry driver who was fiddling with a mobile phone when he crashed into a queue of traffic on the M3 near Basingstoke, killing a woman, was jailed for four years and banned from driving for seven years after admitting causing death by dangerous driving. He had apparently taken the phone out of a hands-free cradle to play with it. |
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| KINDNESS KILLS - A British holiday representative died after stopping his tour bus to rescue a tortoise from the road in Turkey. He was bending down to pick up the tortoise when he was hit by a lorry. Inquest verdict: accident. |
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| CRASH SOLDIER - A Sandhurst instructor was jailed for five-and-a-half years after causing a car crash that killed a police officer. Staff Sergeant Steven Graham, who had been arrested for breaching the peace near Hexham, Northumberland, was being driven to overnight cells in a police car when he pulled on the handbrake, causing the vehicle to overturn. Pc Joe Carroll, who was driving, died. Graham admitted manslaughter at an earlier hearing, but said he should have been handcuffed. |
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| July 2006 |
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| DRINK-DRIVE PC - A man once named the country's bravest police officer drove two cars, including a patrol vehicle, while twice over the legal drink-drive limit following a party to celebrate his promotion. Pc Ian Fielding was sentenced to 200 hours' community work and banned from driving for 30 months. He has been automatically dismissed from West Mercia police. |
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| NO CHARGE - A motorist who was driven at 124mph by a policeman is annoyed that the officer will not be prosecuted. Derbyshire Police said they could not take action because of the length of time taken by the Independent Police Complaints Commission to look into the matter. The motorist was being taken to a police station for failing to give a breath test and was later given a 15-month driving ban. |
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| BOSSES TO BE FINED? - A pilot study is underway in London to investigate the effect of police visiting company bosses if their workers are caught using a hand-held mobile phone while driving. |
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| CAR CHASES - Police procedures and training for dealing with car chases have been criticised by the Police Ombudsman following an investigation into the death of a 19-year-old in Northern Ireland in 2004. |
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| DEATH CRASH DRIVER - A taxi driver who ploughed into a 17-year-old boy near Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, killing him, was described as "despicable" by a judge. Neil Simpson was jailed for five months after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop, failing to report a collision and driving without insurance. |
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| FOREIGN DRIVERS CLAMPDOWN - Thousands of foreign lorry drivers are to be pulled over for checks in a year-long campaign to stop them breaching British safety laws, including being at the wheel for too long. |
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| WHITE VAN MENACE - A cycling scientist has proved that “white van men” give cyclists less room when overtaking than other drivers. |
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| FAMILY ANGER - The family of 17-year-old Natalie Glasgow who was killed in a hit-and-run crash in Essex said they were angered that the driver escaped jail. Van driver Mark Hambleton pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop and report an accident, driving with no headlights and possession of Ecstasy and cannabis. He was given a 100-hour community service order and banned from driving for a year |
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