Lorry driver caught using mobile phone three times since causing fatal collision is 'danger to public'
A lorry driver, who caused a crash which led to the death of a 36-year-old-man near Belfast in 2017 has, since the fatal collision, been convicted three times of using a hand-held mobile phone whilst driving and is a "danger" to road-users.
Ian Thompson (65), with an address at Ballykennedy Road at Nutts Corner, was in court on Tuesday for the latest phone offence which was detected whilst at the wheel of a lorry on the Barnish Road at its junction with the Lisnevenagh Road dual-carriageway near Antrim town at 2.30pm on December 2 last year.
He was previously dealt with at Newtownards Magistrates Court last August for using a hand-held mobile phone whilst driving a lorry at Nursery Road near Newtownards on December 19, 2023.
That court in Newtownards had been told that at a court in Antrim in 2018 the defendant had been dealt with for using a mobile phone whilst driving.
At Laganside Crown Court in Belfast in 2022 Thompson pleaded guilty to causing the death of a 36-year-old man by careless driving on the Tornagrough Road near its junction Rusheyhill Road, Hannahstown, on September 27, 2017.
Thompson was given a suspended 18-month jail term and a driving ban at that court. That court heard the man died after his vehicle spun out of control and hit a second lorry while attempting to avoid a collision with the DAF truck driven by Thompson.
A prosecutor had told the Crown Court there was no collision between Thompson's lorry and the man's vehicle.
However, Thompson should have stopped at the junction but essentially didn't which left the back end of his DAF overhanging the road and that the other motorist must have "taken evasive action" to avoid him, and in so doing caused him "to lose control of his vehicle".
Thompson in the meantime drove on, 'unaware of what was happening', a press report of those court proceedings said.
The prosecution case was that at some point, given Thompson's inattention, his lorry appeared in the path of the motorist who then braked and lost control of his vehicle.
The defendant was at Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena, on Tuesday in relation to the Barnish Road incident.
A prosecutor said police were on the dual-carriageway when they saw a "large Volvo lorry" approach a junction on the Barnish Road. He was holding a phone to his ear.
Police turned further up the road and when they returned the defendant still had the phone held to his ear. The defendant told police he had taken a call from his wife.
He already had six penalty points on his licence for using a mobile phone from Newtownards Court last August.
Regarding December 2 last year, a defence barrister said the defendant's wife had called him. Her father was terminally ill and died the next day.
"He was on high alert when the phone rang but it no excuse for using a mobile phone whatsoever," said the barrister.
He said the defendant had a "very poor record for someone who has driven as a lorry driver his whole life".
District Judge Nigel Broderick said the defendant had an "appalling" record of 47 convictions and "quite a number of those are for driving offences".
He told the defendant: "You caused somebody's death in 2017 as a result of careless driving. For that offence which was dealt with at the Crown Court you received a period of imprisonment, albeit suspended, and a disqualification.
"You would have thought having gone through that experience that you would be extra careful when driving but sadly not."
He said the defendant had used his mobile phone on December 19, 2023, and on that occasion was "probably quite fortunate not to have been disqualified given your record because you were driving a lorry".
The judge added: "On that occasion you were given a fine and six penalty points and is if that wasn't enough you do it again.
"So, in my view you present a danger to members of the public because your driving generally is very poor and you are driving a large vehicle and using a mobile phone all in the context of a poor and relevant record."
The judge handed down six penalty points for the offence before the court and as he had reached 12 penalty points the defendant was banned from driving for six months and was fined £400.