Death crash lorry driver jailed

A Telford lorry driver who ignored warnings signs and ploughed into the back of a queue of traffic waiting to leave the M6 at a busy junction, killing a motorist, has been jailed for 15 months.

Graham Porter had admitted causing the death of Neil Kift - the father of a nine-month-old baby - by dangerous driving. He was yesterday also banned from driving for five years.

Warwick Crown Court heard that with his lorry travelling on cruise control at 55mph, Porter had smashed into Mr Kift's car as traffic waited to join the A14 at Catthorpe, near Rugby, on July 12 last year.

Mr Neil Bannister, prosecuting, said 24-year-old Porter, of Far Vallens, Hadley, who worked for WM Transport of Telford had set out to make deliveries on the morning of the crash.

He said traffic was slowing down and coming to a stop as the volume of vehicles leaving the motorway to join the A14 built up.

"This is so usual that permanent warning signs are positioned between junction one and the slip-road," said Mr Bannister.

After a warning sign at the side of the carriageway there were two overhead gantries and the Highways Agency had activated them to warn of a queue ahead at 7.29am, with the second one showing a 40mph limit.

But Porter's tachograph showed he continued to drive at 55mph.

"The defendant failed to see the traffic ahead, let alone appreciate it was stationary or slow-moving, and he failed to heed the signs and carried on at 55," added Mr Bannister.

When he was later questioned, Porter, who suffered a broken right leg and arm in the accident, said he was familiar with the route and aware there were often queues at that junction, but said he had no recollection from the time he passed junction two until the collision, some nine miles.

Hugh Williams, for Porter, said his client was a married man who had been in the RAF and served in Iraq.

He said: "He accepts it was his fault. He knows he caused the death of a good man, and he knows he has to be punished for that."

By Deborah Collins