A LORRY driver who admitted causing the death of a passenger in a crash on the Avon Ring Road will not go to jail.
A judge told Michael Ronner the right sentence for causing Tyler Carley’s death by careless driving was six months’ imprisonment.
But he said a change in the law, brought in a few days before Ronner pleaded guilty to the offence, meant he had to suspend the sentence.
The decision has been met with dismay by Tyler’s parents, who say they feel shocked and let down by the system.
Tyler, who was 20 and lived in Thornbury, having spent his early life in Kingswood and Mangotsfield, died after the DAF scaffolding lorry he was a passenger in overturned on the A4174 near Mangotsfield on December 5, 2023.
He was thrown from the cab, suffering a fatal head injury.
Tyler’s friend and colleague Cameron Williams was also thrown from the cab and survived with minor injuries – but Bristol Crown Court heard he took his own life the following year, aged 19, as a “direct result” of the psychological trauma he suffered.
June’s sentencing hearing was told that Ronner, 39, of Summer House Way, Warmley, had been drinking, should not have been driving the lorry and should not have been carrying two passengers.
Oliver Glyn-Jones, prosecuting, said Ronner’s licence to drive a lorry had expired. The cab had only one passenger seat, and Tyler was sitting on the cab’s central console at the time of the crash.
Mr Glyn-Jones said after finishing a job in Radstock for employer MJD Scaffolding, Ronner had bought them each a bottle of Thatcher’s Katy cider, which they drank before setting off towards Pucklechurch.
Before he died, Cameron gave an account of the incident, describing how they were laughing and joking when Ronner looked over at Cameron and Tyler, taking his eyes off the road, and the lorry started moving into the inside lane.
A roadside breath test detected 36 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of Ronner’s breath, above the limit of 35mcg. A blood test three hours later found 14mg of alcohol per 100ml blood, below the 80mg limit.
The lorry was travelling at 56mph, under the speed limit, and had no mechanical defects.
Tyler’s father Mark told the court about the impact of his son’s death. He read messages from Tyler’s sisters Ronni and Skye, who said their lives had been changed forever.
In a statement, Tyler’s mum Gemma Showering said: “What is every parent’s nightmare is now my reality – my whole world collapsed around me and Tyler’s brother that night.”
Representing Ronner, Sam Jones said he had changed his plea to guilty in March, after expert reports agreed that the crash was caused by his “momentary lapse of concentration”.
The judge also told Ronner to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and undergo treatment for alcohol dependency. He disqualified him from driving for 18 months and ordered him to pay £630 costs.
Picture courtesy of Gemma Showering