Trucker was on video call before causing fatal crash

Driver gets nearly five years over tragic head-on collision

- By James Mulholland

AN HGV driver who was on a video call moments before he killed a pensioner has been jailed for almost five years.

Blair Jardine caused the death of 88-year-old Sarah Wood, who was a passenger in a car being driven by her niece.

The 31-year-old appeared for sentencing yesterday at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Jardine, of Crosshill in South Ayrshire, pleaded guilty to a charge of causing the death of Ms Wood, whose friends knew her as Sadie.

He also admitted causing serious injury to her niece, 59-year-old Lyndsay Thomson.

The court heard how the collision took place in June last year on the A70 Edinburgh to Ayr road close to the East Ayrshire village of Ochiltree.

Prosecutor Alex Prentice KC said the crash was at an unclassified junction at Killoch Colliery.

He said the speed limit for HGVS was 40mph, but investigators established Jardine was driving at 56mph.