Another lorry driver case

A mother today hit out at the “insulting” £1,000 compensation she received after her daughter was killed when a lorry ploughed into her.

The driver, who was later jailed, had been smoking cannabis and was doing 60mph in fog when he hit 23-year-old Louise Cooper as she stood beside the A13 near Basildon.

Mrs Willis said she did not want the £1,000 herself and gave it to soldier Craig Wood, who lost both legs and part of his left arm in a bomb blast in Afghanistan.

Mrs Willis said that if her daughter had survived she would still be battling for compensation, adding: “Had Louise survived, she would have been severely brain damaged and would have had a leg amputated. I could not have left Louise in a home and would have had to give up my job to care for her.

Ms Cooper was on the hard shoulder exchanging details with another driver in 2008 after a minor collision when the 7.5-ton lorry driven by Lee Baker of West Bromwich hit her.