Woman left with horrific injuries after being hit by metal post from unsecured lorry in freak accident

The blow caused complex fractures to mother of two Miss Su Zhen Qiu's skull base, right eye socket, cheek bone and shoulder, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

She was a walking down the footpath alongside Bescot Road, Walsall when the seven and a half ton flat bed truck driven by Barry Thornton turned right from the carriageway into Wallows Road.

This caused a strap to come loose allowing the load of metal to shift and two gate posts to swing free, the court heard.

One scraped along a building while the other his Miss Qiu on the head and shoulder, knocking her to the ground, revealed Mr Howard Searle, prosecuting.

The lorry continued for another 50 yards before 52-year-old Thornton realised something was wrong with the load that had been carried for barely a mile before coming loose.

Mr Searle continued: "The driver then became aware that he had struck somebody and went to help tend to her.'

The single mother, whose children are aged seven and five and speaks little English, spent almost 11 weeks in hospital after the incident that occurred on June 22 last year and has had an appalling impact on her life, the court heard.

Experienced lorry driver Thornton, who had worked for 16 years for steel fabricators FastLine whose base in Pleck he had just left with the two posts and metal gate. They had been tied on top of two pallets of different sizes holding metal which had been collected from another company earlier in the journey.

He was responsible for ensuring the safety of the goods being carried even though other staff had helped load the truck. Experts later ruled that the load was badly put together and dangerously insecure.

The company have since received a Health and Safety Executive warning - a rough equivalent of a criminal caution - over the way it's lorries were loaded, continued Mr Searle.

Mr Alexander Stein, defending, said Thornton was driving properly and travelling at no more than 20 mph when disaster struck.

The lawyer maintained: "The blame does not entirely lie with the defendant although he accepts responsibility and admits that the load was not sufficiently secure."

Thornton had been diagnosed as suffering from post traumatic stress since the incident and was shortly due to start counselling, said Mr Stein who concluded: "He never envisaged or meant anything like this to happen and is extremely sorry for the difficulties and pain caused to the victim."

Thornton from Florence Road, West Bromwich admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving and was given an 18 month jail term suspended for two years, banned from driving for two and a half years and ordered to pay £1200 costs.

Judge John Wait told him: "You were responsible for the safety of the load which, even at a modest speed, dislodged striking a wholly innocent pedestrian as it passed. The consequences of your failure to ensure its safety have been absolutely catastrophic for her."