att:
After reading all this, I am having difficulty understanding why he was sent to prison for 2 years
I don’t profess to know for certain but can see how parking a vehicle, which is the drivers choice, as opposed to breaking down, which isn’t may have been a consideration. I think the sentence is severe and maybe suspended would have been more appropriate as I can’t for one second believe that had the driver appreciated the low sun risk that he would have stopped in that place.
What if the trucker was virtually stationary turning slowly right (or left) into a snowy yard, just edging in, the van would still have hit him.
Nothings perfect in this world and we are all supposed to drive in a manner apppropriate for the conditions. Clearly the van driver knew the road well and its dangers but carried on way too fast - and has already been said, how can you not see a very large vehicle with hazards on and not brake at all. Or indeed try and swerve to miss it. He was culpable to a large extent.
There’s really something not right about all this - can’t the trucker appeal or something and get a decent brief?
I know that it won’t bring the farmer back or make his loss any the less painful but accidents do happen - it’s life. We can’t always be looking for someone to blame for everything that happens.
Socketset:
can’t the trucker appeal or something and get a decent brief?
The link in the opening post of this thread is a link to the drivers appeal which was turned down.
Own Account Driver:
This one is even worse in my view longer sentence and even less, if at all, the driver’s fault. Unusually, for once the Daily Mail best rated comments are spot on.
How is that NOT the driver’s fault? Have you linked the wrong article? In the link posted the trucker is 100% to blame, no question. The argument that he was in no way responsible because the van was allegedly speeding is completely absurd.
Rob K:
Own Account Driver:
This one is even worse in my view longer sentence and even less, if at all, the driver’s fault. Unusually, for once the Daily Mail best rated comments are spot on.How is that NOT the driver’s fault? Have you linked the wrong article? In the link posted the trucker is 100% to blame, no question. The argument that he was in no way responsible because the van was allegedly speeding is completely absurd.
In that article I do believe the lorry driver to be of blame.
In the op how can you account for people not braking and steering around an obstacle. One silly mistake can change your life - by both parties.
Wonder if no one was killed would the van driver been charged instead? Seems to me that if someone dies in an accident they need somebody anybody to blame. I
It’s threads like this that make you think, what happens if something like this happened to me! … Not long back I went around a corner on a country road with a high edge on near side, unbeknown to me, there was this old chap on a invalid scooter, luckily I wasn’t going fast, and even then I was close to taking him out with trailer wheels. I would imagine I would have been sent to prison if, I had ran him over… 
… There’s a good bit of advice in the article in Truck + Driver, which advises you to get a proper solicitor, from your union or employer, who is familiar with r.t.a.‘s, and transport law, instead of just accepting the one provided by the police… On another note, my next door neighbour is a traffic policeman, and he always says, when there’s a accident between two cars, there’s hardly any witness’ s, when a trucks involved they have them coming out there ears!
I think this is really scary. He wasn’t parked there for no reason, he was unable to drive into the delivery premises. We’ve all had that problem - we run in to be told to wait outside. Or you get lost and jump out to find out if this is where you need to be - unfortunatley we don’t all know exactly where we’re going, the access, the procedures for loading of every address we go to.
It’s irritating in London (other large cities are available) when you aren’t familiar with an address, miss a turning, and then have miles of red route and nowhere to stop to look at your map and figure out where you are. No wonder we rely on satnav so much.
Back to the OP - there can’t be many jobs where making a silly mistake can land you in jail. We must be inches from this every day. We all make mistakes - pull out onto a roundabout a bit close to oncoming traffic (which is totally unnecessary as everyone indicates their intentions, the roundabouts are always clear of obstructions and oncoming motorists understand that we may have entered the roundabout before they came into view and allow us time accordingly 
). But we all do things and think “oops, that was close”. But do we realise how close to jail? Scary scary.
grumpybum:
I think this is really scary. He wasn’t parked there for no reason, he was unable to drive into the delivery premises. We’ve all had that problem - we run in to be told to wait outside. Or you get lost and jump out to find out if this is where you need to be - unfortunatley we don’t all know exactly where we’re going, the access, the procedures for loading of every address we go to.
But equally, as proffesionals 
(in-house TN joke for the newbies) we should be using common sense in choosing where to stop. If the earlier comments about it being on the brow of a blind crest and double white lines on the road then regardless of what happened to the van driver he should’ve been looking at a minimum of driving without due care and attention.
I was faced with a similar predicament some years ago when I was driving low-loaders on repo work. The job was to collect 2 tractors from a farm on the A66 but it was just at the start of the long straight where the second stretch of d/c ends going westbound. No chance of getting the truck up the narrow dirt track (and you wouldn’t turn onto such a “lane” before checking it out anyway), nowhere to stop on the A66, double white lines and given that it was 3pm in December, the sun was shining straight through the windscreen at head height. Common sense should dictate to anyone with a brain that that was not a safe place to stop, which was why I had to continue for another half a mile before being able to pull off the carriageway onto a rutted layby and then hoof it back down the road.
The trucker in question should have done the same, or at least stopped somewhere safe and belled the company up to discuss the problem and reach a solution. He didn’t and now has someone else’s death on his conscience partly due to him not engaging his brain. That does not for one moment excuse the van driver driving blind (and I have little sympathy for him to be honest) but the trucker should’ve at least admitted to the court that his decision to stop where he did was a contributory factor in the crash instead of saying he was blameless and it was all the van driver’s fault. If he had I wager that he wouldn’t have got time, or at least not as much as he got.
the accident happen here
enter these in google
54.918007,-1.954107
if you look at the map the place he was delivering was the first property fell cottages
It appears that Mr Kemp was driving too fast for the prevailing conditions. The Court’s decision implies that Mr jenkins parking contributed to, or caused the tragedy. This begs the question, what are the legitimate reasons for stopping in a dangerous position?
Certainly mechanical failure or road obstruction. Was Mr Jenkins “parked” so he could go and get instructions, or was he “stopped” because he didn’t know what to do next. Anyway, I think that a dangerous precedent has been set for us all. Whether he is a Union member or not, I would like to see our Unions to pursue this issue in a higher court in order to protect us.
delboytwo:
the accident happen hereenter these in google
54.918007,-1.954107
if you look at the map the place he was delivering was the first property fell cottages
Are you sure that’s the right place Del ?
Whilst not being an ideal place to park that certainly doesn’t fit the perception I had from the description “just after a blind summit, on a bend, against double white lines”.
If that is really the location (no reason to doubt it) then I can’t really see why the farmer wouldn’t have seen the truck in time to stop even allowing for the sun.
Certainly when I am driving into the sun and can’t see, I slow down
Even a 18 t flat would have had a fairly large profile and of course a van body would have been even bigger.
I would have thought also, that unless the truck was a 44 tonner ,wagn drag etc it wouldn’t have been too difficult to back into the entrance rather than park on the road.
del949:
If that is really the location (no reason to doubt it) then I can’t really see why the farmer wouldn’t have seen the truck in time to stop even allowing for the sun.
I agree, if that is the place the lorry should have been easily visible from some distance to anyone travelling in even a reasonably safe manner for the road/weather conditions.
Hiya what if the lorry had broken down…would the driver push it to a safe place■■?
what if their had been a crash 2 miles infront and the lorry was the last vehicle in the queue■■?
the van was not under control full stop. if its low sun slow down…if its icy slow down.
imagine a class of kids crossing the road because the pavement stopped at that point and
started across the other side(it happens) do you plough thrugh the kids. you’d see a truck before
a skinny little kid.(which would’nt have hazzard lights flashing)…rant over.
Very surprising if that is indeed the location. As others have said, not ideal, but not quite as much of an ‘accident waiting to happen’ as some of the reports would have you believe. It’s amazing what false pictures ‘exaggerated’ journalism etc can put in your mind, I wasn’t imagining anything like this stretch of road.
The definition of inconsiderate driving is below
ss4 A person is to be regarded as driving without reasonable consideration for other persons only if those persons are inconvenienced by his driving
I (not knowing the full facts) personally think that it is very harsh. However it doesn’t surprise me as the courts system and process in this country is ridiculous. There is no consistency what so ever. Another day another judge. Another outcome
Hiya what if the lorry had broken down…would the driver push it to a safe place■■?
what if their had been a crash 2 miles infront and the lorry was the last vehicle in the queue■■?
in those cases the truck driver would not have any responsibility as it would not be something he had CHOSEN to do.
certainly the blind summit and bend referred to earlier is nothing like I imagined it to have been, and had I been making a delivery to those cottages I would have been tempted to park there if reversing in was a problem.(depending on what was being delivered, a small parcel etc and he could have parked further away and walked back).
It sure seems that truck driver has been treated extremely harshly without the bulk of the blame being apportioned to someone driving too fast for the conditions, even though that person paid a far greater penalty himself.
Even more odd is that if the truck had been broken down then the farmer would have been adjudged 100% in the wrong.
I wonder if there is more to this story than the reports show?
Socketset:
What if the trucker was virtually stationary turning slowly right (or left) into a snowy yard, just edging in, the van would still have hit him.Nothings perfect in this world and we are all supposed to drive in a manner apppropriate for the conditions. Clearly the van driver knew the road well and its dangers but carried on way too fast - and has already been said, how can you not see a very large vehicle with hazards on and not brake at all. Or indeed try and swerve to miss it. He was culpable to a large extent.
There’s really something not right about all this - can’t the trucker appeal or something and get a decent brief?
I know that it won’t bring the farmer back or make his loss any the less painful but accidents do happen - it’s life. We can’t always be looking for someone to blame for everything that happens.
You’re negating the point that the van driver was blinded by the low sun as he crested the brow, chances are he wouldn’t have seen the truck before hand, being a flatbed it would not have as visible as a curtainsider would have been, it was also on a bend so the truck wouldn’t have stood out as an obvious obstruction like it would on a straight road. How many time as a driver have you suddenly had to grab for the visor as the sun is suddenly blinding as you round a bend or as you crest a hill? Yes he may well have been driving too fast for the conditions but this isn’t 100% as there were no skid marks, i believe the estimation came from witness statements and we know how inaccurate they can be.
This rings similar with the Fowler Welch crash where he hit the bus stopped in lane one, the bus driver was charged even tho the truck hit him. It was deemed his fault as he had continued to limp the bus along at very low speed after it had broken down twice before instead of using the shoulder.
del949:
I wonder if there is more to this story than the reports show?
That’s what I’m thinking, maybe what Rob said about the lorry driver completely denying any responsibility, and having what may be perceived to be ‘the wrong attitude’, although I think maybe I’d be perceived to have the wrong attitude if I were in his position. Also that shouldn’t really have any bearing over the actual incident and who was to blame etc, so would be unfair should it’ve been taken into account for his ‘punishment’.
