Dashcam shows lorry driver 'falling asleep' before motorway crash

Dramatic dashcam footage has emerged of a lorry driver apparently falling asleep at the wheel before smashing into a number of cars.

Mariusz Wlazlo ploughed his fully-laden HGV into two cars at almost 43 mph on the M6 southbound between junction eight and junction seven near Great Barr, Birmingham, West Midlands Police said.

The force said the 47-year-old agency driver, of Alderwood Avenue, Liverpool, was jailed for 16 months at Wolverhampton Crown Court on November 29.

He initially denied causing serious injury by dangerous driving but later changed his plea to guilty, the force added.

The footage released by police, which came from the lorry's dashcam and a nearby car, shows the lorry accelerating before smashing into the back of a VW Polo and another car.

The driver of the Polo, a woman in her 50s, was in hospital for weeks receiving treatment for broken ribs and fractured vertebrae.

Pc Gareth Phillips, of the Central Motorway Police Group, said: "The collision has had a devastating impact on the victim in the Polo.

"Although she has made a physical recovery, she now feels unable to drive on the motorway."

He added that if he had been travelling any faster the collision, which happened on the evening of March 15, "would likely have had fatal consequences".

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