Parents call for action after their son's motorway death

2:01pm Thursday 7th August 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

THE family of a Sale man who died in a road accident caused by another driver with an undiagnosed sleeping disorder, hope the Government will now act to prevent similar tragedies.

Toby Tweddell, aged 25, died two years ago when a lorry driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel ploughed into a queue of traffic on the M62 in Merseyside.

Lorry driver Colin Wrighton was suffering from obstructive sleep apnoea - but it was only diagnosed after the crash.

(Last/This) week, Merseyside coroner Christopher Sumner backed the family's call for more stringent checks to identify the condition, while passing a verdict of accidental death.

He is sending a detailed report about the condition to the Lord Chancellor "in an endeavour to reduce the number of deaths that arise annually from this condition"

Toby's parents, Nic and Monica - who have compiled a detailed study into the condition - said: "The coroner said everything we hoped he would. It is what we have worked very hard towards and we hope the coroner's recommendations are acted on by the Government."

The couple, who believe that 80 per cent of cases are undiagnosed, want stringent safeguards in place to identify lorry drivers who have the condition. When the DVLA issues or renews a vocational licence they want questions to be asked to identify those who may have it, by identifying risk factors such as obesity. These could then be tested for sleep apnoea.

A simple treatment involving wearing a mask while sleeping - continuous positive airways pressure device - should enable the sufferer to sleep normally, and return to work within days.

Nic, from Penrith, said although everyone would be tested in an 'ideal world', it was especially vital to ensure vocational drivers were not suffering from the condition: "They spend much more time behind the wheel than most of us, driving big vehicles that sometimes carry many people, so the consequences of an accident can be far more serious."

Between October 2007 and February 2008 there were four court cases in the UK involving nine people who were killed by lorry drivers who had fallen asleep, as a result of the condition.