Lorry drivers face prison for M1 death crash

TWO lorry drivers face jail after a crash on the M1 killed a minibus driver and seven of his passengers.

Ryszard Masierak, 31, who had been drinking and was twice over the limit, and David Wagstaff, 54, will be sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court on March 23.

Masierak’s lorry was stationary in the slow lane on Aug 26 last year. The minibus had pulled up behind it, waiting to move into the overtaking lane, when a lorry driven by Wagstaff rammed into it at 56mph, forcing it into and under Masierak’s vehicle.

Wagstaff, of Stoke-on-trent, admitted causing eight deaths and serious injury to four others by careless driving, but was acquitted at Reading Crown Court of dangerous driving. Masierak, of Evesham, Worcs, was convicted of causing eight deaths and four serious injuries by dangerous driving.

Cyriac Joseph, the minibus driver, from Nottingham, died alongside Panneerselvam Annamalai, Rishi Ranjeev Kumar, Vivek Baskaran, Lavanyalakshmi Seetharaman, Karthikeyan Pugalur Ramasubramanian, Subramaniyan Arachelvan and Tamilmani Arachelvan, all from India. They were on a trip from Nottingham to Disneyland Paris.

Four other minibus passengers, including a four-year-old girl, were seriously injured in the collision on the southbound M1, near Milton Keynes.