Lorry driver cleared of causing the deaths of five fruit pickers in horror M6 crash
A lorry driver has been cleared of causing the deaths of five fruit pickers when he ploughed into their car on the M6 after it lost speed without warning.
Polish national Zbigniew Grzabel wept uncontrollably as the jury forewoman delivered the unanimous not guilty verdicts this afternoon.
Four women and two men were travelling in a Nissan Micra when it was struck by the lorry driven by the 62-year-old from Tipton in the early hours of May 24 last year.
The two vehicles were headed south on the M6 between junctions 15 and 14, near Stafford.
It had been alleged that Mr Grzabel failed to react to a loss of speed by the Micra travelling immediately ahead of him in the same lane at around 4.20am. Motorway workers spoke of seeing a huge shower of sparks as the lorry struck the car with significant force, crushing the rear end.
But it emerged during the week-long trial that the Micra had mechanical problems affecting the throttle and acceleration, and had twice pulled on to the hard shoulder of the motorway during the journey.
A traffic officer had told the jury the car seemed to lose speed, although no brake lights were showing, as though the driver had taken his foot off the accelerator. Although the Nissan had earlier been showing its hazard warning lights, they were not on just before the collision.
The victims, 45-year-old driver Marius Zevian, and four back-seat passengers – his wife Cucoana Zevian, 49, Gheorghita Radu, 56, Nicoleta-Marinela Florea, 42, and 34-year-old Marcela Sandu, all Romanians living in Stoke-on-Trent – had been on their way to work at a fruit farm near Stafford.
Another passenger, Aurel Sandu, 37, who was asleep in the front, suffered serious injuries but survived.
Grzabel, who was headed for Oldbury on a regular delivery, was a former ambulance driver and driving instructor who had never had an accident or points on his licence in 40 years behind the wheel, Stafford Crown Court had heard.
The defendant ,of Glebefields Road, Tipton, was cleared of five counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving after the jury took just over two hours to reach their verdicts.
