Death driver fined £350
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• A lorry driver who ran over and killed a woman as she was standing in the middle of the road has been fined £350 and disqualified from driving for six months. Buxton magistrates also ordered Paul Hadfield, of Bank Bottom, Glossop, to pay £180 costs.
Hadfield had pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention, failing to keep a tachograph record, and failing to take the required weekly rest.
Prosecuting, Martin Howard said that as Hadfield drove down a hill on the A6 towards Buxton town centre, he failed to see the woman until a fraction of a second before hitting her. It was a wet night and witnesses said they thought Hadfield was travelling too fast.
Investigations revealed that Hadfield had disabled the lorry's tachograph by utilising a switch on the dashboard and had exceeded the permitted weekly driving hours. By switching off the tachograph Hadfield had also disabled other instruments on the vehicle, including the speedometer, the direction indicators and the odometer.
Hadfield denied being tired or travelling too fast.