‘Aching loneliness’ after death of husband

Bill Frost’s widow misses him ‘‘every minute of every day’’.

On Friday, truck driver John Robert Jebson, 54, was sentenced to 100 hours’ community work, disqualified from driving for six months, and ordered to pay $1500 to the family of Frost, 58, who was killed on November 27, 2013, in an accident at the Port of Lyttelton.

Jebson had admitted charges of careless driving causing the death of Frost.

Frost’s widow, Vicky, told the court of her ‘‘aching loneliness’’ after losing her husband the day before their 32nd wedding anniversary. He had built up their business Drivertek International Ltd to where it was beginning to bear results after years of hard work and frustrations.

‘‘I miss him every minute of every day,’’ she said. ‘‘We had so many plans.’’

Christchurch District Court Judge Paul Kellar said there were bad congestion problems on the wharf the day of Frost’s death. They arose from an increase in bulk export volumes and on-going disruptions from the earthquakes, he said.

‘‘That created an extremely challenging work environment,’’ Judge Kellar said.

Frost was standing beside a forklift at the corner of Wharf No 2 at the port when the accident happened. Jebson was driving an articulated truck towing a semitrailer classified as over-dimension, with bolsters used to securely carry logs.

He completed one load and then stopped and spoke to Frost about the next load. He then moved forward while Frost began talking on his cellphone.

Jebson drove off making a sharp left-hand turn, but failed to allow enough clearance and crushed Frost between the bolster on the side of the truck and the forklift. Jebson was stopped by another port worker and tried to administer CPR, but Frost died at the scene.

‘‘It was a challenging environment to turn trailers of that size,’’ said the judge, noting that Jebson had had no additional driver training. He had not received safety instructions.

Defence counsel Paul Norcross said Jebson was genuinely remorseful, and he argued for a conviction and discharge. There were no public safety issues that would require disqualification from driving.

Judge Kellar said it was a difficult sentencing which had to concentrate on the degree of carelessness in the driving, rather than the consequences. He offered the court’s sympathies to the Frost family for their loss.

He said the area was heavily congested but that should have come as no surprise to the driver. No blame could be placed on Frost. He was entitled to assume the truck would avoid him.

After the sentencing concluded Vicky Frost would not comment on the penalties imposed on Jebson but praised police who investigated the accident, and was grateful for the assistance provided by Victim Support.

‘‘My wish now is that port safety is much improved and no one else ever has to go through what me and my family have had to,’’ she said.

I miss him every minute of every day. Vicky Frost