On a summer morning in 2021, on a dual carriageway near Andover, a stalled car, a food delivery van and a recovery truck stood in the road, and people had stepped out to help. A lorry driver, his attention given to a screen rather than the road, came upon them at speed and killed three of them. Such moments reveal how a few seconds of divided attention can unravel several lives at once, and how the instinct to conceal can compound what has already been done. The court's sentence in February 2023 closed the legal chapter, though the loss it addresses remains with the families who were left behi
Dash-cam footage shows lorry driver's final moments before fatal A303 crash that killed three
Three people, Alex Britton, Tina Ince and Tom Watson, were killed after their stationary vehicles were struck from behind.
He had the presence of mind to find the phone and destroy it
Mark
What strikes me is how ordinary the setting is. Three vehicles stopped, hazards on, people helping.
Mimi
Yes. Alex Britton had broken down, Tina Ince stopped behind her, and Tom Watson stopped on his way to another job. Two of the three were strangers who chose to help.
Luke
And the lorry hit at 56mph. Is that confirmed?
Mimi
It's the figure the court heard, as reported here.
Mark
The phone detail is very precise. A seven-minute video, shared 42 seconds before impact.
Mimi
That precision comes from the phone data police recovered, which is why the rebuilt handset mattered.
Luke
Worth noting he admitted the charges, so these facts weren't contested at a trial. But the article doesn't say what the judge's reasoning was beyond the sentence.
Mark
Then there's the broken phone.
Mimi
Police say he snapped it in half and threw it and the SIM into the verge. The dash-cam caught him turning away to do it.
Luke
The prosecutor's words about his state of mind are her characterisation. What's documented is the act, and that he later lied in interview.
Mark
What does the sentence cover?
Mimi
Twelve years in jail and a 16-year driving ban, for three deaths and the perverting of justice.
El Pulso
- A lorry travelling at 56mph slammed into a line of stopped vehicles on the A303 while its driver was absorbed in his phone.
- Three people who had stopped to help, including a young mother-to-be, lost their lives in seconds of distraction.
- The driver then smashed his phone in half and threw the pieces into a verge, hoping to erase what he had been doing.
- Hampshire officers pieced the broken handset back together from dash-cam footage, and the driver was jailed for 12 years with a 16-year driving ban.
On a summer morning in 2021, on a dual carriageway near Andover, a stalled car, a food delivery van and a recovery truck stood in the road, and people had stepped out to help. A lorry driver, his attention given to a screen rather than the road, came upon them at speed and killed three of them. Such moments reveal how a few seconds of divided attention can unravel several lives at once, and how the instinct to conceal can compound what has already been done. The court's sentence in February 2023 closed the legal chapter, though the loss it addresses remains with the families who were left behind.
On the westbound side of the A303 near Andover, in the early hours of August 25, 2021, three vehicles stood still on the carriageway. A black Vauxhall Astra had broken down, and directly behind it a Mercedes Sprinter food van had its hazard lights blinking. A flatbed recovery truck waited behind that, and people who had stopped to help stood between the vehicles.
Michal Kopaniarz, 39, was driving a lorry toward a water bottle depot in Andover. The court heard he was travelling at 56mph when he struck the back of the food van. He never saw the stopped vehicles ahead, because he was distracted by his phone. In the 42 seconds before impact he had been sharing a video on Messenger, and at the moment of the crash he was typing into the sat-nav.
The three people who died were Alex Britton, 28, a mother, bride-to-be and graduate from Portsmouth; Tina Ince, 58, of Southampton, who had pulled up behind Ms Britton to help; and Tom Watson, 30, a recovery driver who had stopped his truck when he saw them on his way to another job. All three died of catastrophic injuries.
Dash-cam footage shows what Kopaniarz did next. He took his phone from the cab, walked to the side of the lorry and broke it in half, throwing the pieces and the SIM card into the verge. Hampshire officers recovered the parts, rebuilt the handset and retrieved the data. When police questioned him, he denied having been on his phone.
At Winchester Crown Court on February 24, 2023, Kopaniarz was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a 16-year driving ban. He had admitted three counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one of perverting the course of justice. Lucy Linington of CPS Wessex said he had caused the deaths and then tried to hide his guilt by destroying evidence, calling the conduct horrifying and entirely avoidable. She hoped the outcome would bring the families some small comfort that justice had been done.
On the westbound side of the A303 near Andover, in the early morning of August 25, 2021, three vehicles stood stopped in the carriageway. A black Vauxhall Astra had broken down. Directly behind it was a Mercedes Sprinter food delivery van with its hazard lights on, and behind that a flatbed recovery truck. The people who had stopped to help were standing between the vehicles. Dash-cam footage from an approaching lorry has now been released, showing the run-up to what happened next.
The lorry belonged to Michal Kopaniarz, 39, who grew up in Poland and lived in Donnington, Shropshire. He was driving to a Co-op water bottle depot in Andover. The court heard he was travelling at 56mph when he struck the back of the food van. He had not seen the three vehicles ahead of him because, prosecutors said, he was distracted by his phone.
The detail of that distraction is specific. Kopaniarz had been watching a seven-minute LADbible video and shared it on Facebook Messenger just 42 seconds before the impact. At the moment of the collision he was also typing into the sat-nav on his phone.
The three people who died were Alex Britton, 28, a mother, bride-to-be and university graduate from Portsmouth, whose Astra had broken down; Tina Ince, 58, of Southampton, who was driving her company's Sprinter van and had pulled up directly behind Ms Britton to help; and Tom Watson, 30, a recovery driver, also from Southampton, who spotted them while on his way to another job and stopped his flatbed truck. The court heard all three died of catastrophic injuries.
The footage also shows what Kopaniarz did afterwards. Moments after the crash, his back is turned to the camera. Police say this is when he took his Samsung phone from the cab, went to the side of the lorry and broke it in half. He threw the pieces into the verge, along with the SIM card. Hampshire officers used the footage to find the parts, rebuilt the phone and retrieved the relevant data. When interviewed by police, he lied about having been on his phone.
At Winchester Crown Court on Friday, February 24, Kopaniarz was jailed for 12 years and given a 16-year driving ban. He had admitted three counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one count of perverting the course of justice.
Lucy Linington, senior crown prosecutor with CPS Wessex, said Kopaniarz had not only caused the deaths by driving dangerously but had tried to minimise his culpability by destroying evidence. She called it astounding that he had the presence of mind to find the phone in his cab and destroy it having just killed three people, in circumstances she described as horrifying and entirely avoidable. She said the prosecution hoped the outcome would bring the families a small comfort that justice had been delivered.
The sentence is now passed and the plea means there is no trial to come. The release of the footage puts the evidence the court relied on in public view.
Citas Notables
It is astounding that he had the presence of mind to find the phone in his cab and destroy it having just caused the death of three people.— Lucy Linington, CPS Wessex senior crown prosecutor
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