A father and son who ran a haulage firm have been sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison

A father and son who ran a haulage firm have been sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison after being found guilty of the manslaughter of one of their drivers who fell asleep at the wheel.

On 28 June, Adrian John McMurray and Adrian Paul McMurray were sentenced under the Health and Safety Work Act 1974 at St Albans Crown Court following their conviction on 10 May 2013 for the manslaughter of Stephen Kenyon, a driver for their firm, AJ Haulage.

The Court heard that Mr Kenyon was almost certainly asleep at the time of the collision having been required to drive for longer than the legally permitted number of hours in the 24 hours leading up to the incident.

It was revealed that Mr Kenyon had been working for 19 hours when his 39-tonne lorry crashed into stationary traffic on 12 February 2010.

The Court was informed that tachographs on his vehicle showed he had been at work since 5am the previous day and that he had been driving for more than 13 hours, covering 592 miles.

Under road-haulage legislation, The Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005, commercial lorries can only be driven for a maximum of ten hours in a 24-hour period, and then only two days a week.

Specialist lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: Adrian John and Adrian Paul McMurray failed abjectly in their duty of care to their employees, and it was this gross negligence” that resulted in the tragic death of one of their haulage drivers, Stephen Kenyon”Through the utterly reckless management of their haulage firm, the McMurrays showed consistent disregard for the health and safety of their employees and the wider public.”