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Driver loses jail appeal Fresh hope for
diabetic drivers
by Miles Brignall • A Reading truck driver who fell asleep at the wheel while over the alcohol limit and killed two men has lost his appeal against a five-year prison sentence.
Anthony Young was jailed after pleading guilty to causing the deaths of an AA patrolman and the driver of the car he had stopped to repair on the hard shoulder of the A40 in July 1996.
Last week, three Appeal Court judges decided the sentence should stand after deciding it was not "manifestly excessive".
The court heard that Young's artic had drifted continuously between the middle lane and the hard shoulder over a distance of 16 miles. One witness said he had thought it too dangerous to pass the truck.
At 23:00hrs the truck hit the AA van, which had its emergency lights flashing.
Young's tachograph showed he was travelling at 58mph and had not braked before the collision.
A breath test later showed Young was just over the limit, suggesting he would have been further over the limit at the start of his journey.
Young's counsel told the Appeal Court that he has said he will never drive again and his life in is ruins. Young was banned from driving for five years.
A recovery operator fed up with reading about cases similar to Young's has come up with a safety device to warn recovery personnel of vehicles approaching on the hard shoulder.
Birminghambased Arnold Jameson designed a laser system that sends a beam back up the road from a box mounted on a cone. If a vehicle travelling quicker than 5mph breaks the beam, a loud warning is emitted.
The system is expected to go into production by midsummer; it will cost less than £1,000.
Contact Jameson on 0121 359 7991.