Prison for driver who failed eye test after fatal crash

A 72-YEAR-OLD lorry driver who failed an eye test after a fatal crash with a digger on the main Scotland-England east coast route has been jailed.

John Rogerson did not spot a JCB being driven by Stephen Clarehugh, 54, on the A1 south of Alnwick, Northumberland, in December 2015.

The father-of-two died instantly in the collision as Rogerson was heading south.

The lorry driver, from Innerleithen in the Borders, was jailed at Newcastle Crown Court for two years and four months and disqualified from driving for more than six years. Last week he admitted causing death by dangerous driving.

Northumbria Police Motor Patrols department investigated the crash. Rogerson failed a mandatory eye test after the collision.

Senior investigating officer Sergeant Jason Ryder said: “This was yet another avoidable death on the roads that has robbed a family of a loving father, grandfather and husband and changed their lives forever.

“The mandatory eye test shows that John Rogerson wasn’t fit to drive and the fact that he was behind the wheel of an HGV is particularly shocking for me.”

He urged drivers who believe they may not be medically fit to drive to think about their responsibilities to others, and to seek help.

The victim’s widow, Fiona Clarehugh, paid tribute to the grandfather-of-one, who was well known in the microlight community following his time as an instructor.

She said it was a “bitter irony” that a man who spent a long time teaching people to fly in a supposedly dangerous pursuit should be killed in a traffic accident.