There was no sign the lorry driver, Dominic Nicholls, 51, attempted to use the lorry’s brakes before the collision (Picture: BPM Media)
A lorry driver has been jailed for two-and-a-half-years for leaving an eight-year-old girl with awful injuries following a collision.
It happened between junctions 8 and 9 on the M42 motorway, for Kingsbury, near Tamworth, Staffordshire, just before midnight, on April 28, last year.
Dominic Nicholls, 51, veered his 40-tonne lorry off the motorway at 55mph and into the hard shoulder where the family Nissan X-Trail car was parked.
The young girl has been left unable to ‘think, walk, or talk’ and her parents and five-year-old brother were left with minor injuries.
The family pulled over just seconds before the collision after breaking down.
After being saved by doctors at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, the girl now has to use a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
There was no sign Nicholls, from Hadleigh, Suffolk, tried to use the lorry’s brakes or explain what happened, police said.
Nicholls was jailed for 30 months after admitting causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and was banned from driving for seven years and ordered to pay a £190 victim surcharge at Warwick Crown Court on October 19.
Schoolgirl, 10, missing since yesterday afternoon found safe and well
No picture of him was available from police.
PC Craig Pearson, from Warwickshire Police said: ‘This is a very sad and tragic case.
‘Nicholls has never provided an explanation for why he allowed his HGV to travel directly onto the hard shoulder towards the family’s car.
‘The overall responsibility for the speed and control of the vehicle must lie entirely within the hands of its driver – Nicholls.
‘Dashcam footage from the HGV shows Nicholls makes no attempt to brake or take avoiding action prior to the collision.
‘The standard of driving falls far below that expected of a careful and competent driver.
‘We hope this sentence brings some comfort to the family whose lives have been devastated by what happened that day.’
There was no sign the trucker attempted to brake the lorry before the collision.