Pig lorry driver sentenced after A16 Burwell collision

William Tooke, 29, of Swallow Road, Driffield, in East Yorkshire, admitted careless driving but charges of causing unnecessary suffering and failing to ensure the welfare of animals, were withdrawn.

Prosecuting, Marie Stace said the pigs had been collected in Louth at 6am on July 19 to go to Spalding but at 7.55am, the HGV overturned on bends at Burwell.

She said the vehicle had been travelling at around 40mph on a sunny day on a series of bends and a witness said it ‘seemed to lean to the left and trip over’.

Mitigating, Tony Freitas said that the collision had happened on a windy road and one of the tyres was slightly under-inflated.

He said Tooke was ‘not speeding’ and could not explain what had happened but Tooke was in charge of the vehicle.

He added that some of the animals had been killed and others were delivered.

He was fined £338 and ordered to pay a total of £119 in court costs and five penalty points were put on his licence.