A TRUCKER has been jailed for three years for a crash at speed which killed a van driver.

Terry Weekes, 47, had driven articulated lorries for 20 years until the accident which saw him convicted yesterday of causing death by dangerous driving, a jury at Teesside Crown Court was told.

The tachograph recorder on Weekes' lorry showed his speed before the accident near Middlesbrough was 50 miles an hour, when his legal limit was 40.

Weekes was also disqualified for four years and ordered to pass an extended driving test.

Judge David Bryant, who read seven references to Weekes' good character, told him: "It was a serious offence and it has to carry a term of imprisonment, but I give you credit for your good character and driving record."

Weekes swerved into the offside of a single carriageway on the A1043 Nunthorpe bypass to avoid a stationary flatbed Mercedes van, and crashed into an oncoming Ford Transit. The driver, Christopher Peter Taylor, 44, died in hospital.

PC Steve McKie, of Cleveland Police accident investigation unit, giving evidence on the third day of the trial, said that the flatbed was visible from 159 metres away. At 40mph, the stopping distance would have been between 69 and 80 metres, and at 50mph it was 97 to 111 metres.

Weekes told police he did not have time or space to pull up behind it so he swerved around it and collided with the oncoming Transit.

Weekes, of Clapgate Lane, Morris Bridge, Wigan, was found guilty of causing the death of Mr Taylor, from Bacup, Lancashire, by dangerous driving on September 26 2001.