A man was hospitalised for six days after a HGV driver swerved into the opposite side of the road. Kenneth Tomlinson, of Knowles Street, Radcliffe, who was driving the lorry, said he cannot explain his driving on the day. “It really is inexplicable why you drove in the way you did,” a judge told the 64-year-old.
Tomlinson appeared before Chester Crown Court after pleading guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving. Prosecuting, Callum Ross said the incident happened in July last year on the Daresbury Expressway in Sandymoor. Mr Ross said that two men were victims of Tomlinson’s driving which consisted of him sharply swerving into oncoming traffic.
The victims were both in a HGV heading the opposite way to Tomlison as one man was a driving assessor and the other was being assessed. The court heard how the driving assessor recalled hearing a "loud bang" and then not being able to breathe after being hit by Tomlinson. His vision also went black and he could see white lights.
Mr Ross said that the man was helped out of the vehicle by onlookers and was laid on the grass verge. He was taken to Warrington Hospital where it was discovered he had multiple fractures including to his ribs and vertebrae. A victim impact statement was read to the court from the driving assessor in which it was heard how he was fit and healthy prior to the incident.
He said that at the time of the incident, he was due to climb Mount Kilimanjaro – a lifetime ambition of his for his 60th b.
