Fifty-three year old Dominic Nicholls from Inkerman Terrace, Hadleigh, Ipswich has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for the offence of dangerous driving causing serious injury to three members of the same family, including an 8 year old child, when the HGV he was driving crashed into the rear of the family’s Nissan X-Trail that was stationery on the hard-shoulder after breaking down on the M42 northbound in Warwickshire in April 2022.
He was disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for 7 years and will have to pass an extended driving test to drive again. He was also ordered to pay £190 Victim Surcharge during his sentencing at Warwick Crown Court on 19th October 2023.
The collision on the M42 northbound between junctions 8-9 near Kingsbury in Warwickshire occurred at 11.56pm on the night of Thursday 28thApril 2022.
The family were travelling to their home in Stafford from Heathrow Airport after returning from a family holiday in Sri Lanka. A warning light had appeared on the dashboard and so, the family pulled over on to the hard shoulder to investigate the issue. In the vehicle was a family of 4 including the 8-year-old daughter (rear offside passenger) and 5-year-old son (rear nearside passenger).
Dominic Nicholls was travelling about a minute behind in the same direction in his 40 tonne HGV and for reasons unknown, the lorry drifted onto the hard shoulder at 55mph and collided with the rear of the X-Trail before the family had time to exit the vehicle.
As a direct result of this collision all 4 occupants of the X-Trail were injured – most seriously the 8-year-old daughter (now 10 years old) who suffered life threatening injuries and was taken to Birmingham Children’s Hospital. She thankfully survived the collision but will suffer for the rest of her life. She will sadly be unable to think, talk or walk again and will have to use a wheelchair. She will need a carer for the rest of her life.
Her mother and father were also seriously injured and their five-year-old son suffered minor injuries in the collision.
PC Craig Pearson of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit said “This is a very sad and tragic case. Mr Nicholls has never provided an explanation for why he allowed his HGV to travel directly onto the hard shoulder towards the family’s X-Trail car, the overall responsibility for the speed and control of the vehicle must lay entirely within the hands of its driver – Dominic Nicholls. The dash cam footage from the HGV shows that Mr 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.”
