Bin man jailed after dustcart crash on A21 near Lamberhurst crushed colleague’s arm

A worker had his arm amputated after the dustcart in which he was travelling in overturned at a roundabout.

Now the driver of the empty vehicle, Ben Brooks, 27, has been jailed for 27 months for causing a serious injury to victim Luke Jeffrey by driving dangerously.

The bin lorry overturned and crushed a man’s arm. Stock picture

Judge Oliver Saxby KC told him there were reports that it was not the first time he had driven the dustcart badly and that he had been “showing off” before the crash.

A colleague, who didn’t want Brooks driving the truck, had reported how on the day before the crash he had ‘gone down the road handbraking, leaving black marks on the roads’ and asking: “How much would it take ‘to roll one of these lorries?’”

Maidstone Crown Court heard how on June 2, 2020, Brooks was driving a dustcart along the A21 near Lamberhurst together with Mr Jeffrey – who was covering for a colleague – Reg Carter and Tony Link.

Prosecutor Natasha Dardashti said the roads were clear and the driving conditions good when they left the depot.

Mr Jeffrey, 30, later told police: “All I remember is him going quick…he was going faster than he should have been…on some bends, it felt like the lorry was going sideways when he was turning…I did get worried that he was going to crash.”

His colleague Mr Carter said in a statement: “All the way from the Blue Boys roundabout he was sliding the vehicle around and taking a couple of turns too sharply.

“It was pretty much every corner that he was going fast around…he was just reckless. When we were going down the bypass, we were going so fast.”

Maidstone Crown Court

Mr Link told how after leaving the depot at 6.40am, the lorry mounted the kerb before speeding up.

He added: “As we were about to come onto the A21 bypass, I told Ben he was going too fast but he didn’t listen to us.”

The court heard that at Scotney Castle roundabout he was travelling too fast.

Judge Saxby told Brooks, of Bachelors, Pembury: “You were going too fast – too fast for that roundabout in that vehicle. You lost control of the dustcart and it flipped over onto its side.”

Mr Jeffrey was sitting by the near side door and was resting his arm on an open window.

As the lorry tipped, his arm was crushed –resulting in an amputation just below the shoulder. He also suffered a cut ear and rib fractures.

Mr Carter was also treated for cuts and grazes to his arm, forehead and face and needed 32 stitches to a lip wound. Mr Link received a grazed leg.

Peter Alcock, defending, said Brooks felt genuine remorse and he was not familiar with the roundabout.

The judge banned the father of two from driving for three years.