A lorry driver has admitted causing the death of a retired oil and gas worker who crashed into the back of his HGV on the way home from a family funeral.
Stephen Brennand, 60, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted pulling into the central reservation of the A90 near Tipperty in order to turn around, but left the back end of his lorry protruding into the fast lane.
Travelling southbound, Alistair Arthur’s Volkswagen Sirroco struck the lorry, killing the 74-year-old and injuring his two female passengers.
The roof of Mr Arthur’s car became detached from the rest of the vehicle during the collision.
As the court was shown dashcam footage of the fatal crash, Brennand sat in the dock with his head in his hands.
Car struck rear of lorry
The court heard that Brennand had completed a delivery in Fraserburgh on the afternoon of January 25 2022 when he headed back in the direction of Aberdeen.
At around 5.10pm Brennand became aware that he had been driving for nearly 10 hours and would be required to stop to rest.
Dashcam footage shows Brennand drive 600 metres southward before turning into Logie Road, at Tipperty, and crossing the southbound dual carriageway to the central reservation.
Fiscal depute Niall MacDonald told the court: “At this time, the accused had only one minute left before he would exceed the permitted maximum 10 hours of driving time.
“His HGV was 11 metres in length and the central reservation was 9.8 metres wide when measured at a vertical right angle, and, accordingly, unless the accused had positioned his HGV at a requisite angle, it would have protruded to some extent at least into lane two, the overtaking lane for vehicles travelling southbound.”
Due to the failure of Brennand to pull his lorry into the central reservation, it was concluded that his vehicle was “entirely blocking all of lane two and a significant part of lane one”.
Mr Arthur’s car collided with the rear offside of Brennand’s lorry and proceeded to strike the nearside kerb before hitting an offside road barrier and coming to rest.
The crash caused significant damage to the car and resulted in the roof of the Volkswagen becoming detached.
Mr Arthur sustained injuries during the collision that were “not survivable”.
‘I wish I’d stayed in the layby’
His two female passengers, aged 87 and 81, were trapped within the car before being removed and taken to hospital.
At the crash site, Brennand was seen parking his lorry and attended at the crash site.
When asked by a member of the public if he was okay he stated that he wasn’t worried about himself he was just worried about the people in the car,
He was heard to remark to another member of the public: “I wish I’d stayed in the layby.”
When spoken to by police, Brennand later stated that he had been “a bit panicky” about the number of hours he had been driving and the fact that he was only a minute away from the 10-hour cut-off point.
Driver error caused fatal crash
A report by a police expert identified driver error as the main factor for the fatal collision, combined with Brennand’s decision-making potentially being affected due to him being one minute away from his legal driving time limit.
It was also stated that the dark colour of the lorry may have also been a factor and would have affected Mr Arthur’s ability to see the vehicle at night.
In the dock, Brennand pleaded guilty to one charge of causing the death of Alistair Arthur by driving his vehicle carelessly and without reasonable consideration for other motorists using the road.
His defence solicitor David Nicolson reserved his mitigation until Brennand’s sentencing date.
Sheriff Craig Findlater deferred sentence on Brennand, of High Peak, Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire, until next month in order for the criminal justice social work report to be carried out.
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