Video: 'Distracted' By Porn, UK Truck Driver Crashes Into Car, Kills Man

UK Truck Driver Jailed for 10 Years After Fatal Crash While Distracted by Phone Content

Police photographs captured the truck driver sitting with his head in his hands immediately following the devastating collision.

A truck driver has received a decade-long prison sentence after causing a fatal accident while distracted by his mobile phone, resulting in the death of a man in Britain.

According to BBC reports, 43-year-old Neil Platt from Bootle, Merseyside, was responsible for the death of Daniel Aitchison, 46, in an accident that occurred on May 17, 2024, along the M58 motorway near Skelmersdale in Lancashire.

Law enforcement images show Platt seated in his heavy goods vehicle with his head cradled in his hands immediately after the collision. Court proceedings revealed that throughout his three-hour journey from Dumfries, Scotland, to Liverpool, Platt had been continuously scrolling through various social media platforms including X, WhatsApp, YouTube, and TikTok. Just moments before the crash occurred, explicit images appeared on his X feed.

Aitchison, who was married with two children, was operating a Hyundai Kona and engaged in a hands-free telephone conversation with his partner Kerry when Platt's heavy goods vehicle struck his automobile. The force of the impact pushed Aitchison's vehicle into a stationary tanker, igniting a fire that consumed the car and caused his instantaneous death.

At Preston Crown Court, Platt admitted guilt to causing death by dangerous driving. Judge Ian Unsworth KC severely criticized his behavior, stating: "Your arrogant and selfish attitude to driving was quite breathtaking. You willingly and without any excuse chose to ignore the laws of the road. In short, you were a multi-ton accident waiting to happen."

The judge emphasized that Platt had "prioritised looking at social media" over road safety. "You were distracted by doing something so mind-blowingly stupid. You were not paying attention to what was ahead but you were paying attention to your phone."

Platt will be required to serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody and has been banned from driving for seven years.

Evidence from dashcam footage and mobile phone analysis confirmed that Platt repeatedly engaged with his phone in the moments leading up to the collision, only briefly glancing at the road. During interviews, he had maintained that he was merely checking his journey time.

The victim's wife expressed her grief, saying, "He was just coming home to me and the kids. Their hero has gone. Telling the kids is and always will be the hardest thing I will do in my lifetime," according to The NY Post.

Their 17-year-old daughter described her father as a "good man driven by family and a pure love of life," adding, "You didn't mean to kill my dad, and all that died alongside him, but you must have known your actions could have killed someone."