Romanian lorry driver kills teacher on phone death road
A LORRY driver from Romania killed a 73-year-old teacher on the same road where a family were crushed to death by a trucker using his mobile.
Claudiu-Ioan Almasan became the second foreign driver to be jailed this week after a fatal crash on the A34.
His case followed that of Polish-born Tomasz Kroker, 30, who ploughed into stationary traffic while changing music on his mobile phone – killing a mother and three children.
Kroker was jailed for ten years after jurors saw dashcam footage which showed him distracted by his phone before looking up in horror as the crash happened. In the wake of the sentencing, the Mail photographed lorry drivers brazenly using their phones while at the wheel. Some were pictured while on the same road. Another 17 were pictured in just 90 minutes on the M20.
Oxford Crown Court heard that Almasan, 42, who killed grandmother-of-six Diana Allan, from Cambridgeshire, had ‘probably’ fallen asleep at the wheel of his vehicle and failed to notice a queue of traffic. He had been returning from a lorry depot after delivering milk when he ploughed into Mrs Allan’s car killing her and her dog.
Her son, Dean McGregor-Allan, wrote in a victim impact statement read to the court: ‘Having had the cruel blow of losing my dad to cancer, mum was just beginning to come to terms with this and was looking forward to planning life with more optimism.’
He described his mother’s death in July last year as ‘the darkest day of my life’ and told of how she was eagerly awaiting her grandchildren’s A-level and GCSE results.
Almasan sobbed in the dock as the statements were read and translated to him by an interpreter. The court had earlier heard that in the moments after the crash he had thrown himself on to the side of the road and said: ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I have killed someone. I have always done good in my life, I can’t believe I have done this.’
Almasan, who lived in England and had been working two part-time jobs, started work at 4am and had been due to finish his shift when the tragedy happened.
His wife and ten-year-old son still lived in Romania and he sent money back to them. The court heard he had been up later than usual the previous day talking to his wife on the phone.
Defending, Bernard Richmond QC referred to the ‘very public’ case of the crash in August on the A34 when Tracy Houghton, 45, her sons Ethan, 13, and 11-year-old Josh, and stepdaughter Aimee Goldsmith, 11, were killed by Kroker.
He said that there was a difference between ‘horrible people doing horrible things because they drove in that way and good people who made a mistake doing things which have horrible consequences’.
Sentencing Almasan, Judge Zoe Smith said: ‘The court heard she was a much-loved 73-yearold woman who was a wonderful person.’
She added: ‘As the driver of a heavy goods vehicle you have probably a greater responsibility to ensure you are in a fit condition to drive and should have stopped and taken a further rest.’
Almasan was sentenced to 32 months in jail after admitting causing death by dangerous driving and disqualified from driving for four years.