A lorry driver was putting his eye drops in when he lost control of his HGV and caused a crash that killed a father-of-11. Rajesh Patel, 54, became distracted while doing 56mph and smashed into a broken down Volvo truck which was carrying a full load of chopped iron and steel. Fellow trucker Nigel Blount, 62, was then unable to avoid careering into the back of Patel's Mercedes HGV.
Mr Blount was trapped for an hour before being cut free by firefighters and rushed to hospital with serious trauma injuries, including fractured ribs and vertebrae. He died in hospital five weeks later from an infection but doctors said the spinal trauma injuries he suffered in the crash were 'a major contribution to his death'. A court heard Patel told paramedics who treated him after the crash that he had been putting some eye drops in. The trucker later told police that was a reference to medication and claimed he wasn't doing so at the time of the smash.
