Memory lapse at accident
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• A truck driver who veered off the M25 near Sevenoaks and killed a motorist who was changing a lyre may have suffered a memory lapse at the time of the accident, a court heard.
David Bentley's medical problem, discovered by a psychiatrist who examined him after the tragedy, saved him from going to jail for causing the death of 47-year-old Michael Standing by dangerous driving on 24 October last year.
Bentley, of Stembridge, near Yeovil, Somerset, was given a six-month sentence, suspended for two years, and banned from driving for five years. He was ordered to pay £450. Johannah Cutts, prosecuting, said the accident happened at 06:30hrs on 24 October, on the M25 at Brasted. "The defendant was driving a Volvo articulated lorry towards the Channel Tunnel," said Cutts. "He was later to say he had set off from Wiltshire at 03:00hrs. It was dark and there were no street lights but it was clear, traffic was light and it was dry."
The woman motorist who noticed this decided she should overtake the lorry, but then she heard a loud bang and saw a ball of flames, the lorry having once again moved to its left. The truck had collided with Standing's Volvo parked on the hard shoulder, causing the car to explode.