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.
Suzanne Taylor was a passenger in the back seat of the vehicle, which was at a stand-still with the hazards on. The 71-year-old suffered fatal injuries and tragically died at the scene, on the M6 near Sandbach in Cheshire.
Daughter Wendy Jones, 49, was in the front passenger seat. She now has to use a wheelchair, having been seriously injured, reports the MEN.
Szewczyk, originally from Poland before he moved to Stockport, had been driving for almost 12 hours of the previous 22, a court heard. He had covered 455 miles.
He claimed he had amphetamine to stop himself falling asleep at the wheel, fearing he would lose his job. Szewczyk was seen making 'jagged and aggressive' movements in his van before the crash.
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.
At Chester Crown Court, Judge Steven Everett called for a change in the law on delivery drivers' working hours - and questioned drug driving regulations. Szewczyk admitted causing death by dangerous driving; and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
He was jailed for seven-and-a-half years.
"I am just truly astonished that there's a system within our law that says someone can drive with a controlled drug in their system," the judge said, also suggesting van drivers should 'undergo the same sort of tests and follow the same rigorous regulations as lorry drivers'.
The court earlier heard the incident happened at around 12.30am on October 30, 2021. Szewczyk, who delivers frozen food to Polish shops, was behind the wheel of his white Mercedes Sprinter van on the northbound stretch of the M6.
Prosecutor Frances Willmott said: "The previous day he had driven from 5.54am to 6.10pm, covering 259.55 miles on a trip from Manchester to Hull and back.
"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.
"He then drove to London making a number of short stops consistent with delivering to shops, before driving back north. He made two shorter stops of under an hour and a stop of two-and-a-half hours near Wolverhampton on his way home.
"By the time of the collision he had driven 455 miles and it was 22-and-a-half hours since he had left the warehouse. He had spent 11 hours and 52 minutes of that driving."
Mrs Taylor, the court heard, was being driven back to her home in Burscough by her daughter Wendy Jones and son-in-law Dominic following a family holiday in the Isle of Wight.
"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 had just sufficient time to comment that the van was going to crash into them before the collision."
The court heard Szewczyk was 'unsteady on his feet' when seen by police. "A blood sample was taken and when analysed it was found Szewczyk had amphetamine in his system at a level of not less than 129 micrograms of drug per litre of blood, although this is below the legal limit of 250 micrograms," Ms Willmott said.
Szewczyk gave no comment when quizzed by cops, but subsequently told his employers he had failed police impairment tests because he 'did not have any energy left, was exhausted and could not stand on his feet'.
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.
Inquiries revealed he had unsuccessfully applied to exchange his Polish driving licence for a UK driving licence, then told his employers there were delays with the DVLA exchanging the licence due to Covid.
Szewczyk, of The Bentleys, Lancashire Hill, Stockport, banned from the road for five years upon his release.
Wendy Jones, speaking about losing her mother, said in a statement: "I never got to go to my mum's funeral to say goodbye. My leg was broken in two places. The surgeon told me it is going to be a long road, two years, to heal.
"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.
"Everything changed for me in that moment. I am now classed as disabled, but I fight everyday. It is what my mum would want. She never got the chance to fight back."
Ms Jones' brother Gareth Taylor said: "I find it difficult to do my job as a professional HGV driver. I cannot bear to drive past that stretch of road where the accident occurred. Each time I see a white van driving dangerously I want to scream at them to slow down.
"The pain is indescribable. I will never be the same."
Mitigating, Milena Bennett highlighted the evidence Szewczyk had been driving for 12 hours, covering 455 miles, adding that he was 'truly remorseful.'
Speaking following the sentencing, Ms Taylor's family said: "As a family we are pleased with the custodial sentence of seven and a half years, though no sentence can bring mum back.
"We as a family want to move forward with our lives and keeping mum in our thoughts at all times.
"We would like to thank Cheshire Police for their hard work and patience showed throughout this process, especially our family liaison officer and the investigation team."
