A LORRY driver who admitted causing the death of a young Thornbury man in a crash will not go to jail.
A judge told Michael Ronner the right sentence for causing Tyler Carley’s death by careless driving was six months in prison.
But he said a change in the law, brought in days before Ronner pleaded guilty to the offence, meant he had to suspend the sentence.
Tyler (pictured above), who was 20, was a passenger in the DAF scaffolding lorry driven by Ronner, which overturned on the Avon Ring Road near Mangotsfield on December 5, 2023.
He was thrown from the cab, suffering a fatal head injury, after the passenger door opened.
A second passenger, Tyler’s friend and colleague Cameron Williams, from Downend, was also thrown from the cab and survived with minor injuries – but Bristol Crown Court heard that he took his own life the following year, aged 19, as a “direct result” of the psychological trauma he suffered.
The court was packed with around 45 family members and friends, who filled two public galleries and the jury box, for the sentencing hearing on Friday.
Driver had been drinking
They heard that Ronner, aged 39, of Warmley, had been drinking, should not have been driving the lorry and should not have been carrying two passengers.
Oliver Glyn-Jones, prosecuting, said Ronner’s licence to drive a lorry had expired.
The cab had only one passenger seat, which meant that Tyler was sitting on the cab’s central console at the time of the crash.
Mr Glyn-Jones said Ronner was working with Tyler and Cameron for a firm called MJD Scaffolding.
After finishing a job in Radstock, Ronner had bought them each a bottle of Thatcher’s Katy cider, which they drank before they set off towards Pucklechurch.
The accident happened on the ring road as they approached Emersons Green.
The court heard the main witness evidence had come from a statement made by Cameron before he died, along with details of an account of the crash he had given to his grandmother.
He described how the three of them were laughing and joking when Ronner looked over at Cameron and Tyler to talk to them, taking his eyes off the road, and the lorry started to move into the inside lane.
Mr Glyn-Jones said: “He over-adjusted and the driver’s side struck the central barrier.
“The lorry flipped onto its side and ended up on the opposite side of the dual carriageway.”
Cameron told police that as he started to brace himself against the passenger door it opened.
Both he and Tyler, who were not wearing seatbelts, were thrown from the lorry through the passenger door.
Mr Glyn-Jones said Tyler had died of his injuries at the scene.
He added: “The nature of this case is made more tragic because Cameron Williams committed suicide directly as a result of this incident.”
Ronner was trapped in the cab and had to be removed by emergency services.
A roadside breath test detected 36 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath – above the legal limit of 35.
A blood test taken three hours after the crash found 14mg of alcohol per 100ml of Ronner’s blood, below the legal limit of 80mg.
Later investigations found that the lorry was travelling at 56mph, inside the legal speed limit, and had no brake, steering or other defects.
‘The pain will never go away’
Tyler’s father Mark spoke at the hearing to tell the judge the impact his son’s death has had on the family.
He read messages from Tyler’s sisters Ronni and Skye, who both said their lives had been changed forever.
Ronni said: “I still have sleepless nights and flashbacks of that night – I get so angry when I think of all the things that we’ll miss out on – watching each other grow, seeing each other get married, having children.”
Skye said: “All I can think about is how I’m never going to get my big brother back.”
Mark said: “We love Tyler and miss him every single day. No matter what punishment is given or how much time passes, that pain will never go away. It is something we will carry with us for the rest of our lives.
“Tyler was not just a name or a case, he was our son, a brother, and a loved family member. His absence has left a hole that can never be filled.
“Tyler had an infectious smile. He was outspoken, full of character, and a very handsome young man, who had his whole life ahead of him.
“Tyler had plans, things he wanted to achieve and experience, and it’s heartbreaking that he never got the chance to see them through.”
‘Every parent’s nightmare’
In a statement read to the court, Tyler’s mum Gemma Showering said: “What is every parent’s nightmare is now my reality – my whole world collapsed around me and Tyler’s brother that night.
“Tyler wasn’t just my son, he was the one who always had my back and could ground me when things got tough.
“We’re broken as a family and feel as if we’re no longer living, just surviving. I feel there are no words to describe in detail the pain of losing my child.
“Tyler had this beautiful aura around him. He was always loved by people he met along his way, so his death not only tore my whole world apart but wrecked so many other people’s worlds, and has left a wave of sadness and pain.”
‘Momentary lapse of concentration’
Representing Ronner, Sam Jones said he had changed his plea to guilty after reports from prosecution and defence experts that had “considered his level of fault” for the crash.
Mr Jones said: “The momentary lapse of concentration he engaged in when turning and looking at his passengers represents his fault – it’s that which caused the vehicle to leave the road and the consequences that followed.”
He said Ronner had expressed “genuine remorse” to his probation officer.
Mr Jones said the case had put “huge stress and pressure” on his client, whose relationship had broken down and mental health had deteriorated, causing him to “turn to alcohol” .
He said that although his lorry driver’s licence had lapsed, Ronner was experienced at driving a scaffolding lorry, with no earlier incidents, and had no previous convictions.
Loss of control had ‘devastating consequences’
Sentencing him, Judge Edward Burgess told Ronner: “Your driving fell below the standard to be expected of a competent and careful driver on the basis of a momentary lapse in concentration.”
The judge said this loss of control had “devastating consequences”, and that Tyler “was the third person in a vehicle where there should only have been two”.
Judge Burgess said that just before Ronner’s plea in late March there had been a change in guidelines from the Sentencing Council, when the Sentencing Act 2026 took effect. They now say that any prison sentence of up to a year “must be suspended” unless there were exceptional circumstances or other factors that he said did not apply to the case.
The judge told Ronner that the appropriate sentence after a trial would have been eight months in prison, and that his late guilty plea shortened the sentence to six months.
He said: “Because of the statutory presumption that I must suspend the sentence, I do so, although that may be difficult for many in the public galleries to hear.”
Judge Burgess also told Ronner to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work in the community, undergo nine months of treatment for alcohol dependency, banned him from driving for 18 months and ordered him to pay £630 costs.
The judge said Tyler’s death had caused a “shock wave” that would affect his family and friends for generations to come, adding: “He had so much going for him, so much promise and so much life to live – all of that was suddenly and cruelly snuffed out.
“I recognise that no sentence that I or any court could pass could ever begin to make up for the loss of a human life.”
Top picture of Tyler Carley courtesy of Gemma Showering.