HGV Driver Who Killed Dad In Motorway Crash Was ‘Heavily Distracted’ Watching Porn

It’s terrifying to think that somebody in an HGV can be scrolling through their phone for 3 hours while driving, but that’s exactly what this driver was doing before he killed a father-of-two in a motorway crash.

Neil Platt was looking at ‘images of nude women’ on his X feed moments before the horrific collision near junction four of the M58 in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, on May 17 last year.

Neil Platt has been jailed for 10 years for causing the death of a Liverpool dad on the M58 near Skelmersdale

Platt viewed adult content on social media just seconds before his HGV crashed into the back of Danny Airchison’s stationary car – causing it to burst into flames. pic.twitter.com/vR6XSzSdfc

— Hits Radio Lancashire News (@HitsLancsNews) September 19, 2025

Platt, 43, was ‘heavily distracted’ by the porn on his phone and failed to notice stationary traffic ahead of him, crashing into Danny Aitchison’s Hyundai Kona car as the 46-year-old waited at the end of a queue.

Aitchison’s vehicle was pushed into the rear of a tanker and his car exploded into flames on impact. Devastating.

Preston Crown Court heard that Platt was persistently watching content on his phone during the three-hour journey from Dumfries, Scotland, along the M6 and then when he joined the westbound carriageway of the M58.

In the end, he was jailed for 10 years.

Judge Ian Unsworth KC ripped him a new one: ‘Your arrogant and selfish attitude to driving was quite breathtaking.

‘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.’

Again, terrifying to think how many other HGV drivers are out there doing the same thing on a daily basis, and are also a ‘multi-tonne accident waiting to happen.’ I get the temptation to keep yourself entertained while making these long journeys, but how about sticking on some tunes or a podcast? Watching porn on your phone while driving is just so dangerous, pathetic and undisciplined.

Judge Unsworth continued: ‘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 muli-tonne vehicle you were looking at social media and scrolling X in which some of the content was pornographic in nature.’

Stephen McNally, defending, said ‘family-orientated’ Platt, a father himself, was ‘genuinely remorseful’. I’m sure he will be torturing himself for the rest of his life over what he’s done, but that won’t be any consolation to Danny Aitchison’s wife or two children who now have to grow up without their father.

Worse still, Danny’s family weren’t able to hold a funeral for weeks until DNA tests identified him, as his car exploded into flames from the impact. Just awful.

RIP Danny and thoughts with his friends and family.