On a sunny afternoon in May 2024, an ordinary stretch of the M58 motorway near Skelmersdale, Lancashire, became the scene of a tragedy that has reverberated far beyond the roadside crash barriers. Neil Platt, a 43-year-old heavy goods vehicle (HGV) driver from Bootle, Merseyside, was at the wheel of his lorry, returning from Dumfries, Scotland, to Liverpool. But as traffic slowed to a halt near junction four, Platt’s attention was not on the road ahead. Instead, he was scrolling through his phone, distracted by images of naked women on the social media platform X, along with content from TikTok, YouTube, and WhatsApp. Within seconds, his inattention would cost a family their father, partner, and son.
Dashcam and in-cab camera footage, later analyzed by police, showed Platt persistently using his phone throughout the three-hour journey. According to BBC News, he had mounted his device in a cradle on the dashboard, making it easy to scroll with a glance or a swipe, even as his lorry barreled down the motorway. Photos of nude women appeared on his X feed moments before the fatal collision. Despite the risks so frequently warned about, Platt continued to engage with his phone, ignoring the laws that prohibit such behavior for drivers—especially those operating multi-tonne vehicles.
Just before 1pm on May 17, 2024, police had placed a rolling roadblock on the M58 after reports of a pedestrian on the carriageway. This precaution caused a queue of stationary traffic in lane one, where Danny Aitchison, a 46-year-old father of two from Liverpool, waited patiently in his Hyundai Kona. Platt, heavily distracted, failed to notice the stopped vehicles ahead. He applied his brakes only 35 meters away—just 1.5 seconds before impact, as revealed in court. The lorry slammed into Aitchison’s car, pushing it into the rear of a fuel tanker. The force of the crash caused Aitchison’s car to explode into flames, killing him instantly.
For the Aitchison family, the aftermath was a nightmare. Danny’s partner, Kerry, was on the phone with him at the time of his death. “I feel angry he has lost his life in such a way,” she told Preston Crown Court, as reported by Sky News. “He was just coming home to me and the kids. Their hero has gone.” The couple’s children, Ella, 17, and Jack, 10, were left without their father. Ella described her dad as “a good man driven by family and a pure love of life,” and added, addressing Platt, “You didn’t mean to kill my dad, and all that died alongside him, but you must have known your actions could have killed someone.”
The devastation extended beyond the immediate family. Danny’s mother, Jeanette, called her son “the centre of our family,” adding, “He was always there for his friends and colleagues. Danny would do anything for anyone. The loss of Danny has had a significant impact on me and my family. Quite simply, I feel devastated.” The family’s grief was compounded by the fact that they could not hold a funeral for weeks, waiting for DNA tests to confirm Danny’s identity due to the severity of the accident.
When police first spoke to Platt at the scene, he claimed he had only touched his phone briefly to check his journey time. But evidence from his phone and the lorry’s in-cab camera told a different story. Investigators found that Platt had been continually scrolling through social media and messaging apps for the duration of his journey. According to BBC News, Lancashire Police Detective Sergeant Matthew Davidson said, “The dangers of using your phone whilst driving is so often spoken about, yet Platt recklessly ignored it. His selfish decision took the life of a father, partner, brother and son.”
In court, Platt pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. Judge Ian Unsworth KC did not mince words in his sentencing remarks. “Your arrogant and selfish attitude to driving was quite breathtaking,” he said, as reported by Metro. “You willingly and without any excuse chose to ignore the laws of the road. This was not a one-off glance on your phone… you were looking at such things as X, TikTok and YouTube. The collision that occurred could have happened anywhere along that journey. The blunt reality is you travelled well over 100 miles in what was sometimes a highly distracted state. In short, you were a multi-tonne accident waiting to happen.”
The judge further noted there was no evidence Platt was searching specifically for pornography before the crash, but said he had “prioritised looking at social media over the welfare and safety of other road users.” He told Platt, “You were distracted by doing something so mind-blowingly stupid. You were not paying attention to what was ahead, but you were paying attention to your phone. It beggars belief that while in charge of that multi-tonne vehicle you were looking at social media and scrolling X in which some of the content was pornographic in nature.”
Platt, a father himself and a HGV driver for 15 years, was described by his defense lawyer, Stephen McNally, as “genuinely remorseful.” McNally told the court, “Even though the defendant’s mobile phone was in a cradle and in front of him, this case provides an object lesson in demonstrating that even for the most experienced of drivers, not giving the road your undivided attention and concentration can have the most devastating consequences.” Platt, according to his lawyer, “hated himself” for the trauma he had caused.
On September 19, 2025, Platt was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He will serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody and, upon release, will be banned from driving for seven years. The severity of the sentence reflects both the catastrophic consequences of his actions and the court’s determination to send a message about distracted driving. As Judge Unsworth remarked, “The decision to drive while scrolling for a prolonged period of time on a mobile phone, let alone using a HGV, is utterly crazy.”
The case has reignited public debate about the dangers of mobile phone use behind the wheel, particularly among professional drivers. Despite repeated campaigns and stiff penalties, distracted driving remains a stubborn problem on British roads. For the Aitchison family, no sentence can undo the loss. But as the judge and police investigators made clear, the hope is that the tragedy will serve as a stark warning to others: a moment’s distraction can destroy lives in an instant.
As the dust settles on this harrowing case, the memory of Danny Aitchison endures, a reminder of the irreplaceable cost of careless, distracted driving—and the enduring pain left in its wake.
