Five Dock truck crash: Driver Hamish Thomas Middleton sentenced over seven car crash on Parramatta Rd

A Blacktown truck driver who ran a red light and ploughed into eight cars after he “fumbled” his coffee in Sydney’s inner west has been sentenced. Here’s what happened.

A Blacktown truck driver who ran a red light and ploughed into eight cars after he “fumbled” his coffee in Sydney’s inner west has been sentenced.

Hamish Thomas Middleton, from The Ponds, faced Burwood Local Court on Monday for sentence after he was found guilty of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm.

Middleton initially pleaded not guilty to the dangerous driving charge with a hearing held in March.

He had previously pleaded guilty to five counts of causing bodily harm by misconduct while driving, one count of negligent driving causing actual bodily harm and one count of not stopping at a red light.

Magistrate Jennifer Price sentenced Middleton to a 16-month intensive correction order. He was disqualified from driving for one year and six months and needs to complete 100 hours of community service work.

Five Dock truck crash: Driver Hamish Thomas Middleton enters pleas in court over seven car crash on Parramatta Rd

Court documents state the 54-year-old was driving a fuel truck along Parramatta Rd, Five Dock about 4.30pm on January 12 last year when he failed to stop at a red light and smashed into eight cars.

Six people were injured in the pileup.

Middleton outside Burwood Court House.

Dashcam footage from one of the cars hit by the truck was previously played in court.

The video showed a Toyota stopping at an intersection before suddenly being rear-ended by the truck causing it to spin and fly across the intersection while slamming into other cars.

During his appearance in court, Middleton’s barrister Anthony Strik said his client had to work as a casual forklift driver after the incident and could no longer provide for his family.

Mr Strik said he had been off the roads for about 17 months, suffered from depression as a result of the incident and completed the traffic offenders program.

The truck Middleton was driving was captured on CCTV moments before the incident.

Ms Price said eight cars were indirectly or directly impacted when the fuel tanker travelled through the red light.

“The truck continued to barrel through the intersection even after multiple collisions,” Ms Price said.

Middleton was distracted by the spilt coffee for 5.3 seconds, he “had his eyes off the road” for 82m and there was no sign of heavy breaking, Ms Price said.

It was unknown if the emergency braking system had been manually switched off, the court heard.

Ms Price said Middleton was driving dangerously because he was driving in a heavy vehicle on a main road with heavy traffic, even if the distraction was momentary.

“He is a person of otherwise good behaviour with no prior criminal convictions,” she said.

“There is a great deal of remorse that it has impacted his ability to work in the industry and his mental health.”

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