Father of death crash victim hits out at law

Glen Edwards, 18, from Ickenham, died after the Vauxhall Corsa he was travelling in was hit from behind by a car driven by 38-year-old Matthew Driscoll.

Last week, Driscoll, from Colchester, was fined £530 and disqualified from driving for six months after pleading guilty to careless driving at Chelmsford magistrates' court.

Glen's father, Andy Edwards, 50, said: "When I heard the sentence read out in court I felt like I had been hit with a sledge hammer. All the wind was knocked out of me. I couldn't believe it.

"He [Driscoll] killed my son and destroyed my life and it cost him £530 and a six-month driving ban.

"You can't put a price on life but I don't think that was enough. One of my friends has just been fined for having an overweight lorry - it cost him £2,000.

"The whole situation is disgraceful. The Government has said it will introduce a new offence of causing death through careless driving - it should do it as soon as possible."

Mr Edwards, a gas service engineer who had lived with his son in Ickenham, said the effect of the crash had ruined his life. "I couldn't return to the house for two months because I couldn't bear to see his room," he said.

"I wake up some mornings and think, 'What's the point of my life?' My whole existence was geared towards Glen. Now there is nothing for me; everything seems so pointless.

"Every time I see his favourite programme on television or watch a film we saw together it cuts me to pieces." Glen was returning from a visit to his mother's house in Suffolk on 16 August last year when the accident happened on the A12 near Chelmsford at 8.30am.

He and his 18-year-old friend, who was driving, had left early to collect their exam results from Westfield Community College in Watford, where Glen had been studying A-levels in sociology, sport and communications.

A keen tennis player, he had hoped to become a physiotherapist.

An inquest last month heard how the Corsa slowed to a crawl when it hit heavy traffic. Driscoll failed to slow down and crashed into the back of the Corsa.

Glen suffered severe head injuries and was airlifted to Queen's Hospital in Romford but died the next day with his family at his bedside. His friend and Driscoll suffered minor injuries.

Glen's mother, Michelle Bryant, 42, a nursery teacher, said: "He gave me 18 years of pleasure. He never put a foot wrong. He was the perfect son. I can't believe he's gone."

The Ministry of Justice said no time scale for the introduction of the new law had been set.