Man who survived A34 crash calls for tougher sentences

A man left critically injured when a lorry ploughed into him at 50mph has called for a change in society's understanding of the danger of mobile phones.

Adam Pearson was queueing in stationary traffic on the A34 in Berkshire when Tomasz Kroker's lorry smashed into the back of his car.

• A dash cam captured Kroker on his phone as the crash happened

Mr Pearson, 44, from Milton Keynes, had seen the heavy goods vehicle hurtling towards him and tried to move out of the way by turning off the road, but it was too late.

Kroker's lorry smashed into the row of vehicles, flipping Mr Pearson's Mazda on to the embankment nearby and leaving him dangling upside down still strapped into the driver's seat.

Critically injured, Mr Pearson was cut free and airlifted to hospital in Oxford, where he was operated on for a crushed abdomen and fractured ribs, a torn aorta artery, collapsed lung, lacerated liver and broken back.

He survived - though he has no memory of the accident - but Tracey Houghton, 45, her sons Ethan Houghton, 13, and Josh Houghton, 11, and her stepdaughter Aimee Goldsmith, 11, were killed when their car was crushed under another lorry.

Mr Pearson was in Reading Crown Court to see Kroker jailed for 10 years - a sentence he feels was too lenient. He is now calling for the maximum possible sentence, of 14 years, to be increased as a deterrent.

Mr Pearson is now on the mend and expects to make a full recovery.