A lorry driver who played internet poker as he ploughed into a car, killing the motorist, has been jailed.
Stephen Cook, from Porthcawl, used his laptop to play interactive poker on Facebook as he drove along the M25 last year.
tinyurl.com/2dvxop6
Cook was jailed for five years and disqualified from driving for five years.
He also received two months, to run consecutively, after pleading guilty to six counts of possession of indecent images.
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FIVE YEARS for killing someone!
TWO MONTHS for downloading and possession of indecent images!
What was the judge on when he passed sentence? I think the judge himself should be sent down for handing out such a pathetic sentence.
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Looking in that paper, I found a job for Rattle
26k a year and houses in wales are cheap.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 31 Oct 10 at 13:44
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What are your plans for the Sheikh Zero? If I were he I would be apprehensive.
Gamekeeper? Parking enforcement operative? Speed camera wonk?
Is he nasty enough? I fear not.
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I'm sure that will be a relief Zero. And of course much of Wales is within an hour or two of Manchester by fast-driven Panda, so he might be able to bear the separation trauma.
But does he want a job? I've never had one I could really stand long-term.
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...I think the judge himself should be sent down for handing out such a pathetic sentence...
Five years does seem very light at first blush, but the various press reports give differing accounts.
We are told in one there was a trial, and that he denied death by careless driving, but was convicted of death by dangerous driving.
Unlikely.
He may have stood trial on, and was convicted of, death by careless driving - maximum penalty five years.
He gets no credit for pleading guilty, so the judge has done the best he can in the circumstances by giving him the maximum penalty for the offence.
Careless driving also makes some sense for what we are told happened - hitting the back of a traffic queue could be momentary inattention, rather than a prolonged period of driving which falls far short of the standards of a careful and competent driver - the definition of dangerous.
Unless the prosecution's case was he missed lots of signs - over a prolonged period.
Another possible scenario is the poker playing evidence may not have been that damning, perhaps he had been playing while driving, but was not at the time of the crash, or it couldn't be proved he was.
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Hours: 9.00am to 5.30pm Monday to Thursday and 9.00am to 4.30pm on Fridays
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>>>>>> so he could get to the pub early fridays or have time to go back home for weekends
sounds good but not for me coz i dont do MySQL. Experience although im sure if you give me a pencil and paper i could do loads of doodles
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Slightly off topic but after the night I had I sometimes want to get far away from Manchester as possible. Just sick of the constant arguments at 5:00am in the morning.
Back on topic but I think the sentance is too soft given the seriousness of the situation. The lack of concentration was not caused by tiredness but by being so cocky and thinking he could get away with it.
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A guy here crashed his truck on the motorway - not hitting anyone, but just driving into the ditch. Turns out he was having a Jay Arthur. Ha, he even admitted it to the police. Honest lot, these Swedes.
Last edited by: Dave on Sun 31 Oct 10 at 16:21
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>> A guy here crashed his truck on the motorway - not hitting anyone, but just
>> driving into the ditch. Turns out he was having a Jay Arthur. Ha, he even
>> admitted it to the police. Honest lot, these Swedes.
Not so rare, Dave. Couple of years ago a guy in a fast car on the M60 in North Manchester killed a father and son whilst whacking himself off at the wheel.
He went down for quite a few years, IIRC.
Ted
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>> He went down for quite a few years, IIRC.
boom boom..;)
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>> Back on topic but I think the sentance is too soft given the seriousness of
>> the situation. The lack of concentration was not caused by tiredness but by being so
>> cocky and thinking he could get away with it.
Have to agree with Rattle. Lorry drivers get a bad enough press already without idiots like this.
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...Lorry drivers get a bad enough press already without idiots like this...
I see this man as an ignorant, arrogant, selfish fool.
He just happened to be driving a lorry at the time.
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Why oh why do people think they can do other things whilst driving and still be in control?
The $64000 question...
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While lorries continue to be fitted with automatic gearboxes and cruise control, sadly we'll see more and more of these type of accidents.
This is by no means an excuse, this driver deserves everything he gets, and more.
But the fact remains that driving for 4.5 hours is boring when you don't have to do anything but steer in a straight line, and the less conscientious will always look for something to amuse themselves with.
I totally agree with you VX.
Pat
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Lorry driver, car driver, clearly the guy was an idiot and has no place on our roads.
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>> While lorries continue to be fitted with automatic gearboxes and cruise control, sadly we'll see
>> more and more of these type of accidents.
I'm not quite sure I agree with you there Pat, though I can see where you're coming from.
My current lorry has both of the above-mentioned features, and as far as I'm concerned they're fitted to make my job easier. For the last two years, I've not been plagued by the ache in my left hip which was a direct result of going up and down a manual gearbox all day. Of course, I concede that I don't tend to do the long motorway drags that artics do, and yes they are boring; nevertheless we as drivers are always claiming a level of professional responsibility, part of which is to be alert at all times.
Much though I'm fond of older lorries, and take pride in the fact that I can use a crash box and do cadence braking, I don't want to go back to driving them for a living!
Incidentally; DoT guidelines suggest that car drivers have a break after two hours, yet we're allowed to drive contiinuously for four and a half. Work it out for yourself!
Last edited by: Harleyman on Sun 31 Oct 10 at 18:08
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Even with a manual though on the motorway I guess its mainly just cruising but then with 16 gears I suppose there is a lot of gear changing even at a 50-60mph.
I do wonder how lorry drives stay alert for so long I know I couldn't do it and if the crash was due to dozing off I could understand it. When I am driving I don't even take my eye of road to even change the heater controls. I cannot imagine watching TV/surfing the net at the same time as driving it could only surely possibly end up one way.
When I sometimes take coach trips to London I am always surprised to see how many lorry drivers look like they are falling asleep or are distracted doing something else. Most however are driving very safely and are fully aware of what is going on.
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>Cook was jailed for five years and disqualified from driving for five years.
Can anyone tell me if the disqualification begins immediately, or runs consecutively with his time in prison?
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The ban will begin on release.
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...The ban will begin on release...
I'm afraid not.
The ban begins the moment the judge - in this case case - announces it.
Apart from anything else, the guy's release date is not known, he will probably be out in around two years.
But he might get into bother in jail and serve a lot longer.
There will have been cases, but not many, where the driving ban will have been served inside.
Because of the nature of offence, the guy's licence is not automatically returned.
He must take an extended driving test if he wishes to hold a licence again.
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Remember, that's his licence to drive we're talking about here. He will also be called before the Traffic Commissioner on his release before he gets his HGV Licence back, and probably never will, which is a good thing.
If you lose your licence to drive, you automatically lose your HGV licence too but getting it back at the end of the ban is no easy task.
Pat
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Lorry driver kills motorist while playing poker - Zero
