Driver charged over Mansfield man's M1 smart motorway death

Prezemyslaw Zbigniew Szuba, aged 40, of Kingston Upon Hull, has been charged with causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving after a collision on the M1 near Sheffield, which claimed two lives in June 2019.

Emergency services were deployed to a three-vehicle collision on the northbound carriageway near Junction 34, just north of the Tinsley Viaduct, at around 8.15am on June 7, 2019.

A silver Ford Focus, a silver Ford transit van and a lorry were involved in the smash and two men- 22-year-old Alexandru Murgeanu, from Mansfield and 44-year-old Jason Mercer, from Broom, Rotherham, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Szuba will appear at Sheffield Magistrates Court in September 2020.

An investigation into the collision established that Mr Murgeanu and Mr Mercer had been involved in a minor crash and had pulled over to exchange details when a second collision occurred.

The first crash happened on a stretch of smart motorway where there is no hard shoulder

Alexandru’s heartbroken sister Andreea paid tribute to her brother after the crash, saying he would always be her ‘beautiful little brother’.

She said: “Beautiful and dear soul, I can’t even believe that you have taken a part of me.”

His family described him as a boy ‘with many plans who everyone loved’.

Jason Mercer’s wife has since started campaigning against smart motorways in the wake of his death.

They were introduced to allow motorists to drive in all the lanes to help traffic flow.

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