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BobbyBriggs
A non-custodial sentence is understandable in the circumstances. The community service order of 160 hours work to be completed in a year seems a light alternative. The loss of licence/driving ban for only 12 months is appalling.
The lorry was fitted with the best equipment available, the driver had taken part in cyclist awareness training, the death was avoidable, driver carelessness was the primary cause.
The message that needs to get out to drivers, especially professional drivers, is that carelessness is a crime. Loss of licence for a very long time should be the standard sentence for this level of crime. A lifetime ban was put on the driver in the recent case in Surrey. Surely this case merits a 5 to 10 year ban.
The driver involved in the death of Brian Holt on Mile End Road in 2013 worked for the same company, driving a similar lorry. That driver was acquitted by the jury even though there was clear evidence of lack of care.
Needless to say that both these deaths would have been highly unlikely had the drivers been in lorries with 'Direct Vision' cabs.