Lorry driver guilty

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
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bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ca … e-36973529

A lorry driver has been convicted over a crash he caused after opening a text message which resulted in the death of an off duty police officer.

Det Con Sharon Garrett, 48, died in a five-vehicle collision on the A141 near Wyton, Cambridgeshire, in June 2014.

Danny Warby, 28, of King’s Lynn, Norfolk was driving a 13.6-tonne vehicle that hit the officer’s car.

Warby denied causing death by dangerous driving but was found guilty after a trial at Peterborough Crown Court.
During the nine-day trial the court heard Warby opened a text message one minute and six seconds before the accident.

His vehicle crossed the white line in the centre of the road and clipped an oncoming lorry, showering two cars in debris, before crashing into Mrs Garrett’s Renault Clio which was in the oncoming line of traffic.

Warby was speeding at 53mph (85km/h) on a stretch of single carriageway restricted to 40mph (64km/h) for lorries at the time of the collision, the prosecution said.
Family ‘devastated’

Mother of two, Mrs Garrett, who was married to a fellow police officer, was on her way home from work.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mrs Garrett joined Cambridgeshire Police in 1991 and served in a number of roles across the force, most recently investigating complex fraud offences in the Economic Crime Unit.

In a statement, her family said they remained “devastated” by her death.

"Sharon was a fantastic mother who has been taken from her two young children in such tragic circumstances.

“Nothing can ever bring Sharon back, and words can never express how much we all miss her.”

Warby’s defence had said in court the lorry driver had been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnoea in late 2015 and he experienced a micro-sleep just before the crash, however, a jury convicted him of causing death by dangerous driving.

PC Pete Bimson, who investigated the collision, said: “The evidence heard in court showed it could have been avoided and it really drives home the message that using a mobile phone at the wheel can have fatal consequences.”

Judge Stuart Bridge told Warby: “This is a very serious offence with hugely tragic consequences and an immediate custodial sentence is inevitable.”

He is expected to be sentenced on 12 September.

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A tragic event, but I’m wondering how this trial took 9 days as it looks pretty straight forward. Truck driver was a ■■■■!

As for his defence of being diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnoea in late 2015, what a crock of crap!
You can bet he didn’t inform the DVLA…

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Hopefully get the maximum 14 years. :grimacing: get some salads in whilst doing porridge at hmp. :unamused: out within three years probably. :open_mouth: sleep apnoe after the fatal crash? :bulb: fat ■■■■ is a waste of a skin! :grimacing:

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And I cant see him becoming any ones ■■■■■ while being banged up either :open_mouth: :laughing:

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28 ? is that his age, weight or IQ
may be it should be his sentence.

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He’s got such a lovable face though…

A face you’d love to punch repeatedly that is.

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I hope he hates porridge! :imp:

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Vehicle 13.6 ton with him in it probably a 10 tonner without him in.

Rot inside fella Rot inside

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Reading the text was bad enough, trying to reply to it was just mental. Micro sleep my arse, he will be spending a long time now scared to go to sleep.

In his defence I’m sure he didn’t intend to kill anyone but poop happens.
Can I honestly say I’ve never glanced over at me phone when a text has arrived, well no but thanks to Fatty Mcfatfuck I won’t be doing it again.

A seconds loss of concentration is all it takes in our game, no defence for it but we all have that one moment our attention is elsewhere.

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I am struggling to believe that he is only 28 :open_mouth: He won`t make old bones that fella.

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National road plannings driver coming towards me today , totally oblivious as to what was going on around him , as he had the phone on the steering wheel trying to text , in full view , deserve to get done

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Evil8Beezle:

I hope he hates porridge! :imp:

What a picture of health he looks, hopefully he’ll have a heart attack and die 5 minutes before being released .

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Notice there are plenty of pics of this very stereotypical driver of whom the public has been told to loath over a long period.

If he’d been of “olive complexion” - you wouldn’t be able to get a pic of them to save your life.

“A driver working for Turners of Soham was busted today for running some poor bird with a pushchair over”. type thing, for example… :unamused:

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Winseer:
Notice there are plenty of pics of this very stereotypical driver of whom the public has been told to loath over a long period.

If he’d been of “olive complexion” - you wouldn’t be able to get a pic of them to save your life.

“A driver working for Turners of Soham was busted today for running some poor bird with a pushchair over”. type thing, for example… :unamused:

and the bbc wouldn’t of even reported it as news

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Tragic, all over a mobile phone as well. can’t believe that bloke is 28 either! I’m in my 50’s and look younger than him.

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I see lorry drivers texting on their phones every day. It’s not an isolated problem, it’s rife.

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Tris:
I see lorry drivers texting on their phones every day. It’s not an isolated problem, it’s rife.

We may mock this bloke and wish him unwell but there by the grace of god go a vast amount of drivers, I see people playing with phones all the time, a little while ago I was parked up near a roundabout at night and the amount of drivers who clearly were holding onto a lit screen just below the steering wheel whilst driving was astonishing, may be 1 in 10 cars and vans!
No doubt the courts will make an example of him in hope that a message is sent out, but may be the police and the courts should be shouldering some of the blame themselves; they hardly police the roads now, rarely see a traffic car where I live and when they do prosecute the courts hand out piddly little fines.

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Bluey Circles:

Tris:
I see lorry drivers texting on their phones every day. It’s not an isolated problem, it’s rife.

We may mock this bloke and wish him unwell but there by the grace of god go a vast amount of drivers, I see people playing with phones all the time, a little while ago I was parked up near a roundabout at night and the amount of drivers who clearly were holding onto a lit screen just below the steering wheel whilst driving was astonishing, may be 1 in 10 cars and vans!
No doubt the courts will make an example of him in hope that a message is sent out, but may be the police and the courts should be shouldering some of the blame themselves; they hardly police the roads now, rarely see a traffic car where I live and when they do prosecute the courts hand out piddly little fines.

True. As a lorry driver though you’re a professional, you’ve done the cpc courses, and if things go wrong you’ll likely do a lot more damage. As such it needs stamping out. My parrot hasn’t worked for the last few months, told the workshop and office, so I just ignore the phone til I arrive where I’m going.

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Please see my post under A1 drivers!!
I sincerely hope that the victims family will learn to come to terms with their truly tragic loss.

For every driver caught using a mobile at the wheel, they perhaps should be confronted with cases such as this and may it haunt them for the rest of their days on earth. If he has a long life then he has longer to show remorse at the highest level for his actions. I mean all drivers.

As I’ve said before , this offence is parallel with drink or drug driving. Maybe guys, just maybe we have to tackle this phone and driving situation ourselves.

I’m no grass or snitch, and yes we all make minor errors, a missing indicator, or a sharp cutting in, but I’m thinking we need to take action directly.

Call me stupid, but I’ve considered using two cameras and filming people whilst I’m on foot at a junction in my spare time. I guarantee, within half an hour on a Saturday morning I would catch 20 to 30 culprits with a phone pinned to their ear. I’ll wager that the figure I’ve quoted there would be applicable in most high streets, main road junctions, anywhere.

If the authorities will not pull these idiots in, then we must provide our own evidence and ram it home!

I’ve often thought of putting my services as a phone and driver spotter forward to the traffic commissioner. (In my area it’s Beverly Bell).

So come on guys…your thoughts please. Can we do it??

Does anyone on here believe I could get some official support for this idea?

Or shall we wait until another mother, wife, daughter sister, or whoever gets taken out by a “professional, CPC holding, experienced driver”■■?

Over to the forum…

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Butcher:
Please see my post under A1 drivers!!
I sincerely hope that the victims family will learn to come to terms with their truly tragic loss.

For every driver caught using a mobile at the wheel, they perhaps should be confronted with cases such as this and may it haunt them for the rest of their days on earth. If he has a long life then he has longer to show remorse at the highest level for his actions. I mean all drivers.

As I’ve said before , this offence is parallel with drink or drug driving. Maybe guys, just maybe we have to tackle this phone and driving situation ourselves.

I’m no grass or snitch, and yes we all make minor errors, a missing indicator, or a sharp cutting in, but I’m thinking we need to take action directly.

Call me stupid, but I’ve considered using two cameras and filming people whilst I’m on foot at a junction in my spare time. I guarantee, within half an hour on a Saturday morning I would catch 20 to 30 culprits with a phone pinned to their ear. I’ll wager that the figure I’ve quoted there would be applicable in most high streets, main road junctions, anywhere.

If the authorities will not pull these idiots in, then we must provide our own evidence and ram it home!

I’ve often thought of putting my services as a phone and driver spotter forward to the traffic commissioner. (In my area it’s Beverly Bell).

So come on guys…your thoughts please. Can we do it??

Does anyone on here believe I could get some official support for this idea?

Or shall we wait until another mother, wife, daughter sister, or whoever gets taken out by a “professional, CPC holding, experienced driver”■■?

Over to the forum…

My opinion on the whole degrading of driving standards…it’s a perfect storm of crap supervision, crap planning, technology, and lack of enforcement.

The first two are down to the operator. Some margins are so tight that they lack the capacity to supervise adequately, cut corners, or over plan drivers’ workloads. Then of course, the tech exists to make driving so much easier, that people drive the trucks like they are race cars. Such a lack of respect will always catch you out - complacency is a ■■■■■ of a lesson.

Lack of enforcement, well that’s down to HMG not adequately resourcing the police etc.

I am continually surprised at how many ‘professional drivers’ I see driving without any professionalism. It is still a minority, most colleagues are superb…but, like in all other walks of life, we suffer our fair share of oxygen thieves.