A polish lorry driver who drove his heavy goods vehicle into the back of a stationary vehicle that had had broken down on the M1 motorway killing one of the passengers was jailed for four years and eight months on Wednesday, July 15.
Wojciech Bukowski badly injured four other passengers in the six seater car that contained a group of friends from Middlesex University. Their blue Kia Sedona had come to a halt after dramatically losing power as it travelled down the southbound carriageway of the motorway at junction 11A in Bedfordshire on the afternoon of Sunday December 1, last year.
Sixty-five year old Bukowski a married man who lives in Poland pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and four counts of causing serious injury by his dangerous driving. The young man who died in the crash was 19 years old Zahid Ahmed.
The four other young men badly injured were 20 years old Ayush Akaria who suffered a traumatic brain injury and fractured skull, Shajhi Shivan, 22, who suffered a large bleed to his brain and a spinal injury, Shezan Mohammed, 27, who at one point was in danger of having a leg amputated and Mohammed Bhamia, 20, who suffered a broken right femur and damage to his lungs Prosecutor Peter Shaw told Luton crown court it was around 3.15 in the afternoon when the collision occurred.
The court heard the Kia was travelling in the middle lane at around 55 miles per hour when it suddenly started losing power.
The driver who was not one of the injured men told police layer the vehicle was in 4th gear and it was when he charged up into 5th gear that the car began to slow. He changed down again, but the vehicle continued to lose power.
“The guys in the car were asking me what was going on and I told them I didn’t know. As soon as the car started to slow everyone in the car was aware of what was going on and panicking. I changed down into third gear in the hope that this would pick up the speed and the vehicle continued to slow down.”
The court heard the driver saw the engine light was on and after switching on the car’s hazard light decided to drive onto the hard shoulder.
Judge Mark Bishop hearing the case was told that in fact that day the hard shoulder was being used as an active lane. Having got onto it, the driver was able to steer the Kia with its hazard lights flashing into a safe area beside the hard shoulder.
There he turned the engine off and switched it back on thinking that might solve the problem. The court was told when the engine was switched back on the driver attempted to join the motorway only for the vehicle to lose power again and come to a halt.
The driver told the police “Everyone in the car was screaming. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the lorry coming straight at us. I tried to turn the engine back on by turning the key in the ignition.
“I don’t remember if it made a noise or not as everyone was screaming. Then the lorry got close and when it got real close I just shut my eyes.”
Crash investigators found Mr Bukowski’s Scania articulated lorry was travelling at 56 mph when it collided with the rear of the car. He had not applied the brakes until the moment of impact.
Judge Bishop was told other motorists had managed to avoid the stricken Kia by driving around it and the defendant had had a view of the stationary car for between eight to 10 seconds giving him enough time to change lanes and brake.
The court was told Bukowski had no previous conviction and lives in Poland. When driving in the U.K. he always slept in his lorry. Judge Bishop was told at the time of the crash Bukowski had been looking forward to retiring from lorry driving.
Judge Bishop jailed Bukowski for a total of 56 months and disqualified him from driving for 10 years and ordered he has to take an extended driving test before he gets behind the wheel of any vehicle again.
