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

A truck driver has been handed a 10-year prison term after a fiery crash, caused while he was distracted with his phone, killed a British man.

Neil Platt, 43, from Bootle, Merseyside, caused the death of 46-year-old Daniel Aitchison on May 17, 2024, on the M58 near Skelmersdale, Lancashire, as per the BBC.

Police photos show Platt sitting in his HGV with his head in his hands immediately after the crash. The court heard that Platt had been scrolling through social media, including X, WhatsApp, YouTube, and TikTok, during his three-hour drive from Dumfries, Scotland, to Liverpool. Seconds before the collision, naked images flashed on his X feed.

Aitchison, a married father of two, had been driving a Hyundai Kona and was on a hands-free call with his partner, Kerry, when Platt's HGV struck his car. The impact forced Aitchison's vehicle into a stationary tanker, causing a fire that destroyed the car and killed him instantly.

At Preston Crown Court, Platt pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. Judge Ian Unsworth KC condemned his actions. "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 noted 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 serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody and faces a seven-year driving ban.

Dashcam footage and phone analysis confirmed that Platt repeatedly interacted with his phone in the moments before the collision, only glancing at the road briefly. He had maintained in interviews that he only checked the journey time.

The victim's wife said, "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," as per The NY Post.

Their 17-year-old daughter called her father 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."