Lorry Driver Arrested After A4 Crash
Second road fatality involving Hanwell based waste firm
A lorry driver working for Hanwell based Thames Materials has been arrested after a fatal crash which closed the A4 in Chiswick for eight hours on Tuesday.
A 51-year-old Japanese man who was a passenger in a black cab travelling in the opposite direction was killed after a 32-ton lorry smashed through the central reservation near Chiswick House.
The 44-year-old driver is being questioned on suspicion of death by dangerous driving, driving while unfit and possession of a controlled substance.
Neither he nor the 51-year-old victim has been identified by police.
This is the second fatal crash involving a driver from the waste management firm based on Trumpers Way, Hanwell, in six months.
Last month, Dennis Putz, was jailed for seven years for the death of cyclist Catriona Patel, 39.
A court heard that Putz, 51, drank at least seven pints of Guinness the night before driving into the young Clapham PR executive outside Oval Tube station in June.
A spokesman for Thames Materials has said:
"We are very sorry about both cases. We are working very closely with police to try to understand what happened.
"It has been very hard for us as a company."
The firm refused to comment further, but at Putz's Inner London Crown Court case, it was revealed that he has been jailed twice before for road offences, including a six months sentence in 1995 for reckless driving and again in 2003 for 16 counts of driving a lorry while disqualified.
Police said the lorry driver in the Chiswick accident was discharged from hospital after being treated for shock. The taxi driver and two other male passengers suffered minor injuries.
Officers from the Road Death Investigation Unit based at Hampton are investigating and urge anyone who witnessed the incident to contact them on 020 8941 9011.
10 December 2010
