760 miles in two days
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LONG DISTANCE lorry driver Tom Clorley plunged 50ft to his death when he fell asleep at the wheel after driving 760 miles in two days, an inquest heard on Friday.
Mr Clorley, of Whixall, Shropshore, died from multiple injuries after his 12-ton articulated lorry ran up a slip road off the M4 on the outskirts of Reading, before ploughing across a roundabout and and down a 50ft embankment.
Eye-witness Paul Biddington, a Leading Aircraftman from RAF Odiham, Hampshire, told the Reading inquest that he saw Mr Clorley's lorry swerve across two lanes on the eastbound carriageway shortly before the crash last August.
The lorry went up the slip road to the A33 Basingstoke road but did not slow down in any way and went straight across a roundabout before crashing through a barrier and falling down the embankment.
Crash investigators recovered the vehicle's tachograph which showed that Mr Clorley had been driving for nearly 30 hours in a 42 hour period.
PC Graham Shellshear said the device revealed that Mr Clorley had travelled from the base of his employers, Hawkins Plant Hire, at Wem, near Shrewsbury, to Lesmahagow near Glasgow.
He had then driven from Scotland to Aberfan, South Wales, where he set off for Mil ton Keynes in Buckinghamshire. The total distance was 760 miles.
It was during the trip to Milton Keynes on August 24 that Mr Clorley crashed off the motorway at 1.45am. PC Shellshear told the inquest: "During a 42 hour period he was working for at least twenty nine and a half hours. The excessive anti-social hours could well have left Mr Clorley in a fatigued condition.
"It would not be unreasonable to conclude that Mr Clorley fell asleep at the wheel of the vehicle, so causing the accident."
Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Arthur Mayes said: "One can only conclude that the deceased must have been very tired and kept nodding off and finally fell asleep at the wheel, giving rise to this most disastrous and unfortunate accident.
"It seems the deceased had been driving his vehicle for an excessive period and had for some unknown reason failed to take proper rest periods."