Lorry driver cleared of causing deaths of five people in M6 crash

Lorry driver cleared of causing deaths of five people in M6 crash

A lorry driver has been cleared of causing the deaths of five people in an accident on the M6 in Staffordshire in May last year.

Zbigniew Grzabel, 62, was acquitted at Stafford Crown Court of five counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, police said.

The Polish national, of Glebefields Road, Tipton, West Midlands, was charged after a collision at around 4.20am on May 24 on the southbound carriageway involving his Mercedes HGV and a Nissan Micra.

The prosecution alleged that Grzabel failed to see the car, which was experiencing mechanical issues, as he was making his way from Huddersfield to Oldbury, West Midlands.

Four women and a man, all Romanian fruit pickers, died in the crash between junction 15 and junction 14.

Car driver Marius Zevian, 45, and passengers Cucoana Zevian, 49; Gheorghita Radu, 56; Nicoleta-Marinela Florea, 42, and 34-year-old Marcela Sandu, suffered fatal injuries.

Counsel acting for the defendant said the evidence in the case showed he had not fallen asleep at the wheel and was an honest, hardworking and decent man who had not intended to do anything wrong.

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