The trial ends tomorrow so potentially if found guilty can be sentenced tomorrow or told to come back in a few weeks or months time for sentencing.
If the judge says tomorrow to return at a later and then says prepare your personal affairs that’s a sign for a prison sentence.
I reckon he sealed his own fate telling the court he did not use his mirrors properly…or at all.
He must have some pi55 poor brief to try and use that one as mitigation.
He should thank his lucky stars nobody was seriously injured or worse,.at least that has gone for him.
As for a custodial sentence…wtf is that going to achieve exactly?
Chuck the book at him, take his licence off him with a clause of a re.test, and fine him…but within his means,.what is the point of virtually bankrupting the guy, especially when he is out of work.
There is part of me that actually feels sorry for him, a least a bit of empathy at least…am I the only one?
I get it btw, he’s epically f.d up through negligence… and then some.
I reckon he is unlikely to make the same mistake ever again,and will learn from it…but he hasnt killed anybody,.and you can sure as hell bet he is sat there right now feeling a complete ■■■■.
So cut him some slack at least, I’m getting the vibe here of a few old wives doing their knitting sat in the front row of .‘La guillotine’.
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On the subject of insurance for the owner of the road haulage company, will they have to pay out compensation for the motorway being shut for hours and the knock on affects of that?
When a lorry strikes a railway bridge it costs thousands per hour to close the line until the engineers check for structural damage and a risk to passengers using trains, will this be the same for closing a motorway and how much will the pay out be?
It’s confirmed and official, the jury rejected the careless driving aspect and have decided that the driver is now guilty of dangerous driving and will be sentenced in August.
My whole point.
It is quite dangerous to drive off a site on to a Mway, without using your mirrors,.with the outcome thereafter …innit.
Why tf would he not only do that, but admit it and volunteer that info in a court of law.
His brief wasn’t exactly Mr Loophole was he.
Just thinking Bristol?..‘Outlaws’.
It wasnt this guy representing him was it?
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He’s guilty as sin
Dangerous driving
The offence of dangerous driving is when driving falls far below the minimum standard expected of a competent and careful driver, and includes behaviour that could potentially endanger yourself or other drivers.
And if the police definition of Dangerous Driving isn’t clear enough, don’t forget a Judge can direct a Jury to return a guilty verdict.
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How is the test for dangerous driving applied by the court
The test is an objective one and examined as against that of ‘a careful and competent driver.’ The court will ask themselves whether the manner of the driving fell far below what, by objective standards, could reasonably be expected from such a driver, and whether that would have been obvious to such a driver. In determining if driving is dangerous, the court will look at many factors. These might include speed, adherence to road/weather conditions, whether the driver had proper consideration towards other road users, whether his ability to drive was affected by drink/drugs and whether he/she was entirely focused on the road or might have been avoidably distracted by his actions.
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Cheeky !
I did continue…
Although none(?) of us have sat through the whole Prosecution plus the whole Defence case, we as drivers may have picked up on a couple of indefensible points?
But a jury may not have done so.
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According to the company website they are still trading and looking for a driver, and Melisa in accounts looks super hot.
The rest of you lot will have to share Elisa.
So fortunately NO ONE was killed or injured, driver should be heavily fined and banned from driving. We see time and again motorists killing and maiming others on the UK’s roads with totally pi55 poor punishment. Dangerous driving carries serious consequences and there’s the usual from the authorities that someone COULD HAVE been killed or seriously injured., fact is they WEREN’T. Bit of a non story.
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What happened was dangerous.
The fact no one was killed is good luck.
Playing Russian roulette and getting away with it once or twice does not make playing it less dangerous or less stupid.
It was not a non event.
It might have been worse, but that does not make it less bad in itself.
If there were deaths then I would expect a stiffer sentence, but here still not a mere slap on the wrist of 12months ban and a small fine. If a fine is easily affordable it doesn’t have much effect.
Maybe the community service option, so he can work somewhere, not driving, and not be a burden? I doubt prison would be much use for curing stupidity or laziness.
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I’m thinking a suspended sentence and community service with a stiff fine then the coffee with Mr Rooney the TC to justify if the license should be reinstated after the automatic driving ban as per sentencing guidelines by the sentencing council or the CPS.
Like I said, heavily fined, not a small fine and also a driving ban. Could have, would have , should have, fact is no one was injured or killed, move on.
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I normally avoid correcting anyone’s English on here like the plague! However,
you would expect professional drivers to be able to spell their driving qualification correctly. I notice on a few threads this week that drivers are posting using the American spelling ‘license’ instead of licence. We have a driving licence in this country. On this particular thread it is the BBC, no less, who are spelling it wrongly, with an ‘s’.
In English (not American), the verb is license and the noun is licence. The same applies to practise / practice, advise / advice, devise / device and prophesy / prophecy.
Just thought I’d share 
■■
EDIT to add. While I’m on my high horse, in Britain we have registration plates, not ‘license plates’ like the USA. Their plate serves as a licence, ours does not.
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No, you can’t AFAIK, claim off the HA for delays, whereas a train passenger can claim off the railway company, who in turn claim off the haulier. If you think their excess is often 10’s of £k, that’s a big loss for a stupid drivers actions
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Hey dude you guy’s are getting more Americanized all the time. Even you lot call yourselves truck drivers not lorry drivers, there was even a show called ‘Truckers’. You’re into BBQ and baby showers and black Friday now and some of you drive LHD trucks so may as well go the whole hogg and drive on t’other side of the road like Yanks do.
Here’s a little factoid, we don’t have to faff around putting a license plate on the trailer as each trailer is registered separately. from the tractor and should have a license plate on it.
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We are too, but we invented barbecues. 
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OK, I’ll give you that one. 
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