A TRUCK driver who smashed into a hen-party minibus on the M62 told a jury today the image of the back of the vehicle was “scorched on his brain”.

Kevin Ollerhead said he thought the slow-moving minibus was stationary because of the impact.

Ollerhead denies causing the death of Bethany Jones, 18, by dangerous driving on April 26 last year.

The driver of the minibus, James Johnson, 64, of Whytecote End, Wyke, Bradford, has pleaded guilty to the offence.

Miss Jones was one of 20 women travelling to a hen-party weekend in Liverpool when Ollerhead’s truck hit the back of the vehicle on the westbound motorway carriageway at junction 32.

The minibus had set off from South Elmsall but suffered a mechanical problem and was travelling at about 5mph, the jury has heard.

Ollerhead, 45, of Lincoln Crescent, St Helens, Merseyside, told Leeds Crown Court he was driving a Farm Foods refrigerated truck back to Warrington after dropping off goods in Scunthorpe and Immingham.

Ollerhead said he had loved his job and had a clean driving licence for 18 years.

He served in the First Royal Tank Regiment, seeing service in Germany, before becoming an HGV driver. He told the jury he had attained a special licence to move hazardous chemicals round the country for a previous employer.

Ollerhead, a married man with children, said he was driving the slowest of the Farm Foods’ wagons that day. The cruise control was set to 52mph.

Another truck overtook him shortly before the collision and then pulled out into the middle lane.

“What I remember from then is seeing the minibus at a very close distance. I remember everything froze, everything just stopped. I think I steered, I think I braked. That was it,” he said.

He told the jury he had no definite recollection of whether he did brake or steer.

His windscreen shattered and he was struck across the face. He was covered in shards of glass and had cuts to his face and injuries to his forearms.

“I remember hearing the screams from the minibus and seeing the devastation of the minibus,” he said.

He helped some girls out of the vehicle and tried to free the driver who had his arm stuck.

He was treated in Pontefract Hospital where a breath test was negative.

He said that because of the impact he thought the minibus was stationary on the motorway.

“When I saw the minibus and I knew I was going to hit it I thought I was going to die and everything just stopped,” he said.

Asked about the effect the crash had had on him, Ollerhead said he no longer socialised with friends or played any sport. “It is just a life without emotion”.

He added: “It’s horrible. I’ve got a 15-year-old daughter and God forbid if anything took my daughter away from me, it is unthinkable.”

The trial continues.