A LORRY driver from Exeter who fell asleep at the wheel and killed a man months after being involved in three other crashes has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Ian Lawrence's Costcutter HGV ploughed into a stationary maintenance lorry driven by Nicholas Hall, crushing the father-of-two between the cab and the trailer, Swindon Crown Court heard.

Lawrence, 60, of Browning Close, Wonford, Exeter, had pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and driving without due care and attention at an earlier hearing.

Jailing Lawrence and banning him from driving for five years, Judge John McNaught said: 'What you did was a terrible thing, to drive when you were unfit because you were tired.'

The collision happened as Lawrence drove his 17-tonne MAN lorry along the A350 at Upton Scudamore, near Warminster, Wiltshire, on July 23 last year.

Mr Hall, 47, from Marlborough, was killed instantly. His vehicle, owned by road maintenance firm Ringway Parkman, had its hazard lights on.

Ray Tully, prosecuting, said Lawrence was given five points on his licence for careless driving after colliding with a stationary goods vehicle on the hard shoulder of the M4 near Reading on January 30, 2001.

On June 5, 2001, he went into the back of another goods vehicle on the A38 at Ivybridge, Devon.

Then on June 19 2002, just over a month before the crash that killed Mr Hall, Lawrence struck a marked police car protecting a broken-down lorry on the M4 at Gwent.

The earlier hearing was told Lawrence's tachograph showed he had not braked or taken any avoiding action before the crash, while an accident investigator said he would have been able to see Mr Hall's hazard lights for up to 40 seconds.

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Dateline: Wednesday, June 25, 2003