By Dara Bradley

A trucker responsible for a collision involving two articulated lorries on the M6 Motorway was hospitalised for six days at University Hospital Galway.

Wayne Ashleigh Lough with an address in Portadown, Co Armagh, pleaded guilty at Ballinasloe District Court to careless driving at 5.45pm on July 28, 2022.

The court heard that Lough, a driver of an articulated lorry, collided with another articulated lorry that was stationary in a layby along the M6 motorway between Ballinasloe and Athlone.

His vehicle jack-knifed after striking the parked lorry, and his truck then collided with the central concrete divider along the motorway.

The road was closed for several hours and diversions were in place, after extensive damage was done to Lough’s vehicle which was traveling in the eastbound lane.

The defendant spent five or six days at UHG and suffered multiple injuries including cracked ribs and broken thumbs.

The driver of the other truck was with their five-year-old child at the side of the road when the collision occurred, the court heard.

Judge James Faughnan said it sounded like ‘dangerous driving all day’ but Sergeant Christy Browne said the directions from the DPP were for careless driving.

Defence solicitor Martina Moran said the collision was the result of ‘a lapse’ by her client.

Judge Faughnan said an artic driving into another artic was dangerous, and he disqualified him for six months and imposed a fine of €700.

Leave for appeal was granted.

Pictured: The aftermath of the crash on the M6 motorway in 2022.