Delivery driver killed gran in motorway smash having taken amphetamine to 'stay awake' while on the road for nearly 12 hours
The case of a van driver who killed a grandmother in a motorway smash having taken amphetamine 'to stay awake while making deliveries across the country' left a judge 'astonished'. Marcin Szewczyk, 43, ploughed into the back of a Kia Sportage in heavy traffic at 58mph, pushing it into a HGV.
At the roadside, the father-of-three was seen to be 'twitchy and uncontrolled'. The court heard he was under the drug-drive limit. It also emerged he did not have a valid UK driving licence. "On the day leading up to the collision, he had been making deliveries to London. GPS data shows that he left a warehouse in Manchester at 2am and would have been at the warehouse some 30 to 40 minutes before that time in order to load the van.
"Traffic started to slow and there were warning signs that there were queues ahead," Ms Willmott added. "Mr Jones put his hazard lights on, looked in his rear-view mirror and saw a van bearing down on them. He suggested he had slept during one of his stops and was reminded by his employers that if he had been too tired he should have told them and they would have changed the day of the journey.
"I cannot contribute to my family or engage with work colleagues which I really miss. There is ongoing counselling for trauma. I need support. There are so many things that have been taken from me. "Because he feared he may lose his job, this happened during the pandemic in 2021 when the economy was just resurrecting itself, he decided to take up the challenge so to speak.
"He is truly remorseful about what he has done. He stated that if he could turn the clock back to take away all the sorrow and the pain he has caused, he would've done so but unfortunately he cannot do that. He continually has flashbacks and he thinks about what he has done on a daily basis and cannot sleep."
"How can it be legal to drive with a controlled drug in your system? Who has decided that there should be a legal limit. Just taking amphetamine is illegal. Somebody needs to get a grip on this.
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