Fatal Al crash appeal dismissed John Duff, of County Antrim,
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Northern Ireland, had pleaded guilty to a charge of driving without due care and attention before Pontefract magistrates.
Richard Sutton, prosecuting at Wakefield Crown Court said Duff had been one of the causes of the pile-up, which took place in freezing fog. A queue of stationary traffic had formed in both lanes: at the back of the queue was a Volvo artic and Renault car. The car had just failed to stop in time and there had been a slight collision with the artic.
Duff was driving too fast and too close. His vehicle hit the rear of the motor car, crushing it. One of the occupants was badly injured; the other died. A pickup carrying a car ran into the back of Duff's vehicle — the car became detached and crushed the driver of the pickup. Duff's tachograph showed that just before the accident he was travelling at over 64km/h (40mph). Duff said that the traffic conditions were good although there was patchy fog. He was doing 40-50mph, but slowed down when he hit the fog. He swerved to the right to miss one of two stationary trucks, and then saw a car behind a truck. He had thought he was travelling at a safe speed but agreed that traffic reports on the radio had warned of bad weather.
For Duff, Toby Sasse said that the magistrates had imposed the same penalty in every case relating to the accident. Duff had made an error of judgement but his conduct had to be considered. Dismissing the appeal. Assistant Recorder Barlow said that he considered this to be a serious case.