More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Home Sittingbourne News Article
A food delivery driver whose car hit and killed a 16-year-old girl has been given a £1,000 fine for not having the proper insurance.
Jamie Hopkins, 39, of Meads Avenue, Sittingbourne, was driving a silver Vauxhall Zafira people carrier when the crash happened on November 1 last year.
Schoolgirl Ellie Paine, from Sittingbourne, was taken to King’s College Hospital, London, where she died on November 4 after her devastated family agreed to allow her life support to be turned off.
A hearing last Wednesday at Medway Magistrates Court heard that Hopkins had only been insured for social, domestic and pleasure, but was not covered for trade or to be working as a delivery driver.
When asked why his car was not insured to be driven for business use, Hopkins said: “It was too expensive for what I was doing.”
Hopkins, who is still self-employed and now working as a market trader, was told his excuse did “not wash with the court”.
However, it was made clear that he faced no criminal charges relating specifically to Ellie’s death.
Back in February, a coroner ruled the teenager’s death was a “tragic accident”.
An inquest in Maidstone heard how she was crossing the A2 Canterbury Road, at traffic lights at the junction with Murston Road, when she was hit by the car driven by Hopkins.
The crash happened in the dark at 6.15pm as Hopkins was taking an order from the Lateef Indian Restaurant in Bell Road to a customer in Teynham.
The inquest heard Ellie had an un-survivable traumatic brain injury.
Last week Hopkins was fined £1,000 for his lack of business insurance, along with a £100 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.
He was also given eight penalty points on his driving licence.
It was agreed he would pay £100 per month until the total was cleared, and the first payment was due in 28 days.
Speaking afterwards, Ellie’s mum Jody Foster, said: “No sentencing would ever ease the pain of losing our beautiful daughter and we will always feel that if the driver hadn’t been taking the journey for which he wasn’t insured that our daughter would still be alive today.”
