Veteran driver jailed for crash
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• An HGV driver with 21 years experience has been jailed for six months for causing death by reckless driving on his first day in a new job.
Colin Biggs' tipper crosed the wrong side of a roundabout and smashed into teacher John Demetriades' Ford Escort, cutting it in two. Demetriades was dead when fireman cut him free.
The Old Bailey heard that the collision occured just after 08:00hrs on 25 July last year at Hampden Square roundabout, Southgate, North London. Biggs, who had just started work for New Southgate Metals, was returning from a dump in Hertfordshire to the company's base in Station Road, Southgate. He told police at the scene: "I came down the road a bit too fast, lost it on the roundabout and hit him." Biggs claimed he had tried to slow as he approached the roundabout, but his brakes had failed.
Experts found that was untrue and the prosecution claimed Biggs had not braked at all.
When interviewed later he said that as he approached the roundabout he saw pedestrians on his left and decided to go round anti-clockwise and then straight into Osidge Lane. But when he did so the Escort had come from his right and he was unable to turn around and avoid the impact.
Biggs, of Wolsey Avenue, Goffs Oak, Cheshnut, denied causing death by reckless driving but was unamimously convicted by the jury. In addition to his jail terms, Biggs was banned from driving for two years.