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Prison for agency driver after death reveals hours cover-up
Page 8
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Two men have been jailed for their role in an accident that left a policeman dead after a driver fell asleep at the wheel. Chris Tindall reports.
AN AGENCY DRIVER who fell asleep at the wheel and killed a policeman while working for Asda has been jailed for four years. And the director of Future Driving Services, which provided the supermarket with the driver, was jailed for three years for the manslaughter of Detective Constable John Needham.
Sean Emery admitted causing death by dangerous driving after driving for 41 out of the previous 57 hours in August 2003. Needham was riding in a cycling event on the MO at Doveridge when he was hit. Police discovered Emery had lied about his hours on declaration forms Asda had provided.
Further investigations revealed that Brian Alcock, who ran the Stoke-based agency, encouraged staff to work beyond the legal limit of 48 hours. This resulted in 17 more of Alcock's drivers being prosecuted for hours offences.
In a bid to cover up the number of hours he had driven, Emery and Alcock conspired to conceal the drivers' shift patterns. Alcock admitted encouraging his drivers to flout the law, but denied he had forced them to do it.
A spokeswoman for Asda says: We have reviewed our actions following the accident. While we know this is of little comfort to Mr Needham's family, we will do everything we can to ensure we are not duped again in this way."
• See page 28 for CM'S investigation into driver agencies.