A  lorry driver who caused a seven-vehicle pile-up on the M25 while driving under the influence of cocaine has been handed a suspended two-year jail sentence and disqualified from driving for three-and-a-half years.

Alan Smith, aged 37, from Poynton in Stockport, appeared at St Albans Crown Court where he was also handed a 24-month suspended sentence, 150 hours of unpaid work, eight days of rehabilitation activity requirement and ordered to pay £1,500 prosecution costs.

Smith had pleaded not guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and drug driving when first charged but changed his plea to guilty before his trial.

The collision occurred on the anti-clockwise carriageway of the M25 motorway shortly before 6.27am on Friday 24 February 2023 near the exit slip road at junction 22 for St Albans.

The defendant passed several slower moving vehicles including a mobile crane and a white car in lane two prior to the collision.

Smith, who was driving a blue MAN HVG indicated and changed from lane three into lane two without making sufficient checks that it was safe to do so, colliding with a grey Toyota Corolla on the near side, which span out of control across the carriageway which resulted in another five vehicles being involved in the crash.

A man in his 60s, driving one of the vehicles involved, sustained serious life-threatening injuries.

Smith did not stop at the scene and was tracked down by officers over 100 miles from the collision where he was found to be over the prescribed limit for cocaine.

Detective Constable Peter Hoddy, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire serious collision investigation unit, said: “While the pain and suffering for those involved in the collision will be hard to forget, I hope that this result from the court has sent out a strong warning to anyone who believes they are above the law.

“Driving dangerously and driving under the influence of drugs will not be tolerated in Hertfordshire and those who commit such offences will be dealt with.”

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