Delivery driver killed gran in motorway smash having taken amphetamine to 'stay awake' while on the road for nearly 12 hours
19.04.2023 - 16:49
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
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.
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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