Owner of Haulage company in East Yorkshire found guilty of manslaughter after two men died in M62 collision

Michael Holgate, Munstead Way, Brough was found guilty today at Hull Crown Court of two counts of manslaughter through gross negligence, two counts of causing death whilst uninsured. He had previously entered a guilty plea to one offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Jack Beston from Driffield who was 22 and driving the vehicle at the time of the collision pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving when he appeared at previous hearing at Hull Crown Court in October 2020.

On 3rd April, 2018, Nigel Eley (41) and John-Paul Cassidy (37) were travelling along the M62 when a 30 tonne articulated truck carrying a large static caravan was heading west along the M62 went through the central reservation colliding with a black lexus.

Nigel sadly died at the scene and John-Paul later died of his injuries in hospital.

Speaking of her devestating loss Nigel Eley’s wife said,

“The despicable way in which Michael Holgate ran his business has devastated my family.

“Due to his actions, my beloved husband lost his life and my boys had their father and hero taken from them at the tender ages of 9 and 4 years old.

“My hope is that this case prevents anyone else from being placed at the risk of such ignorance.

The family of John-Paul Cassidy said:

"The past three years have been very difficult for all our family.  Now that justice has been served, as the law allows and the shameful way that Michael Holgate ran and covered up his business activities, has been exposed; with no concern for his employees or other road users and with greed being his sole motive, we hope that clamping down on these practices in future will be more swift and commonplace. "

Sergeant Rob Mazingham of Humberside Police Serious Collision Unit said,

“Following any road traffic collision where someone loses their life an extensive and lengthy investigation takes place.  The investigation looks at the circumstances of the collision and of the vehicles involved.

“Thorough mechanical investigations were carried out on the LGV transporter and mechanical faults were found.  Including, and most seriously, the serious failure of the brakes.

“Jack Beston knew as he drove the vehicle down the M62 that day that his brakes were not working.  He had reported on numerous previous occasions that the brakes were faulty and yet, rather than pull his vehicle safely over and call for mechanical assistance, he continued his journey which ended in fatal consequences.

“For his part Michael Holgate owned the haulage company which was responsible for maintaining this any other vehicles in his fleet.

“Our investigation revealed a shocking picture of a company culture with complete disregard of safety and maintenance.”

"Our investigation also revealed that although the vehicle involved was insured, the policy stated that all drivers must be over the age of 25 years, Beston in this case was not.

"We regularly work with the HSE, Highways Agency and DVSA on joint operations along our road network to pull over and check vehicles for roadworthiness for the very reasons that have sadly played out in this incident. I’m confident that our recently formed Commercial Vehicle Unit will further strengthen this area of enforcement and education."