Lorry driver sentenced after Dover collision

The driver of a lorry that crashed near Dover, breaking the leg of a recovery vehicle worker and writing off a police car, has been sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court.

John Barnes, aged 52 of Hopes Lane, Ramsgate, appeared today (13 February 2014) after he had admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing. He was given a 12 month prison sentence, suspended for two years and ordered to undertake 300 hours of unpaid work. He was disqualified from driving for two years and will have to take an extended driving test at the end of the disqualification period. Barnes will also have to pay £380 costs.

The recovery driver was underneath a broken down Volvo car, preparing to tow it away from the A256 Sandwich Road near Waldershare, when the collision happened on 14 June last year.

The lorry first hit warning cones and then collided with the back of a Kent Police car parked behind the car to warn approaching traffic. Police officers were forced to jump over the barrier at the side of the road to avoid the lorry.

The officers shouted a warning to the recovery driver who managed to pull himself out from under the car just as the police car was shunted into the rear of the broken down car.

But the 40-year-old from Broadstairs did not have quite enough time to fully get out of the way and the Volvo was pushed over his legs. Following the collision he had to have surgery for a broken leg and was off work for several months.

The lorry driver told police when he was interviewed that he had not seen the police car until the last minute due to the sun.

Detective Sergeant Scott Lynch from the Kent Police Serious Collision Investigation Unit said: "The lorry driver had 100 metres of clear view of the obstruction, which was clearly signalled by the emergency flashing lights of the police car. Yet the driver failed to react to the hazard until the last minute and it was very fortunate that no-one lost their life."