A STOWMARKET lorry driver is today charged with causing the death of an eight-year-old boy in a crash on the A14. Michael Coombes faces an accusation of driving dangerously and being responsible for the four-vehicle pile-up in which the child was killed.

A STOWMARKET lorry driver is today charged with causing the death of an eight-year-old boy in a crash on the A14.

Michael Coombes faces an accusation of driving dangerously and being responsible for the four-vehicle pile-up in which the child was killed.

The accident, involving two lorries, a car towing a caravan and a van, took place on the Suffolk-bound carriageway near Stow-cum-Quy, Cambridgeshire, at about 12.40pm on Friday, May 4.

Also injured in the accident was the 48-year-old driver of a Mercedes van from Ipswich. His passenger, a 19-year-old man from Brandon, suffered serious injuries.

Coombes, of St Mary's Road, Stowmarket, was allegedly driving a Mercedes articulated lorry in the crash.

He was charged this month and made his first appearance before Cambridge magistrates.

The case against the 61-year-old was sent to Cambridge Crown Court where there will be a preliminary hearing within the next seven days.

The boy, William Elbrow, from Thrapston, Northants, was a passenger in the back seat of the car towing the caravan.

The eight-year-old was travelling in the back seat of a Mitsubishi L200 car with his brother, six, and his three-year-old sister.

His 38-year-old father, who was driving the car, was seriously hurt in the crash while his mother, 37, who was in the front passenger seat, was treated for shock.

The smash closed the A14 in both directions for nearly ten hours at the start of a Bank Holiday weekend.

Doctors from medical charity Magpas joined the emergency crews at the scene and said lessons had to be learned from the “terrible tragedy”.

The accident caused gridlock as people tried to go through Cambridge and along diversion routes including the A10 towards Ely.

It later emerged that the accident occurred after police had closed a lane of the A14 to deal with a broken down lorry.

An internal inquiry was carried out by the Highways Agency after two members of its staff were injured when their patrol van was involved in the collision.