Lorry death sparks call for action

Buy photos » Mick Penny at the A5 layby in Kilsby where a lorry driver lost his life. Mr Penny is calling for better road safety measures on what he calls a very dangerous stretch of road. 02.012.019.rug.jg1

A LORRY driver has warned of the dangers of the stretch of the A5 where a fellow haulier was killed after crashing into vehicles parked in a layby.

Driver Luke Carter from Wales was died last Friday (January 6) when he left the road and smashed into two other lorries parked up near to the roundabout beside the Eddie Stobart site.

The 47-year-old father, from Ammanford in south Wales, crashed around 1.45am. Paramedics could not save him and he was declared dead at the scene 20 minutes later.

Brownsover haulier Mick Penny was on his way home when he drove up to the layby shortly after the accident and stopped to find an 'horrific scene'.

He said: "I saw what had happened and thought, 'Oh my God, what a disaster'. There was a cloud of dust surrounding the area.

"The driver (Mr Carter) was in the cab which was crushed between his trailer and one of the lorries he had crashed into. He kept asking me to move his seat back for him but I told him I couldn't. It was awful."

Seeing what had happened has prompted Mr Penny, a haulier of over 20 years' experience with Crick firm NFT, to speak out and warn drivers of the dangers of the stretch of the A5 near Kilsby and the DIRFT site.

He has called for better road safety measures there, saying speed cameras or flashing warning signs could cut the number of people killed or injured on the road.

"It's well known as being a very dangerous bit of road. It needs some cameras or something else on the brow of the hill there to slow traffic down. The signs there are not enough," Mr Penny told The Observer.

"I've seen so many accidents there and have had several near misses myself. The road is straight so people end up driving along it too fast."

Crash victim Mr Carter was understood to be from Llandybie, a village in Carmarthenshire, and had two teenage children.