A lorry driver who watched TikTok videos for up to eight minutes before crashing his 44-tonne HGV into the back of a couple's Jaguar on the M6 has been jailed for 28 months. Jack Haddow, 29, of Wood Close in Kirkham, Lancashire, admitted two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. The crash left Kevin and Deborah Prescott with devastating injuries and shattered their dreams of retiring to Malta.
Crash on the M6
Liverpool Crown Court heard that Mr Prescott had collected his wife from Manchester Airport in the early hours of April 1 last year. The couple, from Lancashire, were travelling home in their Jaguar XE saloon on the M6 northbound between junction 22 at Winwick, Warrington, and junction 23 at Haydock shortly before 2am. Haddow was driving a Mercedes Artos HGV from a warehouse in Nuneaton, West Midlands, to another in Preston with an attached but unloaded container.
The speed limit on that stretch of smart motorway had been reduced to 40mph, with the Prescotts' car travelling at that speed in the first lane. The lorry collided with the back of their vehicle at around 50mph, causing it to veer across the carriageway and crash into the central reservation.
Victims' injuries and statements
One witness stopped at the scene and rushed to check on the occupants, finding Mr Prescott unresponsive in the driver's seat and struggling to look at Mrs Prescott due to the extent of her injuries. She cried: "My husband has died. He's dead." Mrs Prescott, 65, who sat in a wheelchair in the public gallery, suffered displaced open fractures to her ankle and wrist and several broken ribs. She underwent a nine-hour operation to reconstruct her right leg and may still require further surgery.
In a statement read to the court, she said: "On the 1st of April 2025, my life changed forever. I sustained drastic injuries to my wrist, feet, legs, knee and ribcage. My right knee and foot were destroyed. My right lower arm bone was sticking out through my wrist. I cannot adequately describe the fear I felt during those moments. It may only have been a short period of time, but, to me, it felt like an eternity."
Mr Prescott, an armed forces veteran who served in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during the Gulf War, sustained rib fractures, a broken sternum and a spinal vertebra. He said: "I genuinely feared I was watching my wife die in front of me. I truly believed it would be the last time I ever saw my wife alive." The couple had planned to retire to Malta, but Mr Prescott said: "Those dreams now feel uncertain."
TikTok use before crash
Haddow returned negative breath and drug tests at the scene and initially claimed the car had slowed in front of him. He said he had been "listening to TikTok live performance of a singer" and had "never touched his phone". But analysis of his iPhone 15 found the handset had been unlocked 21 times in the two hours before the crash, with TikTok active for up to eight minutes immediately prior to the collision. Facebook, Safari browser and Apple Mail had also been used.
Jonathan Keane, prosecuting, said: "In essence, the phone, the crown say, was clearly in the defendant's reach within that cabin. There were 18 activations of the device for varying length times, some seconds, some a considerable period, between midnight and the time of the collision. Evidence from that analysis indicates the TikTok app was in use at the time of the collision."
Sentencing
Oliver Jarvis, defending, said Haddow has a partner, two children aged six and two, and his partner is pregnant. He said Haddow accepted full responsibility and felt considerable guilt. Recorder Anna Price remarked that Haddow's actions had had a "terrible impact" and said his speed was estimated at 53mph. She said: "You were driving a heavy goods vehicle for a commercial purpose at the time. It is clearly a much more dangerous vehicle than someone driving a car."
Haddow was jailed for 28 months and banned from driving for two years and nine months, with an extended retest required before he can drive again. He told his family "I love yous" as he was led to the cells.
