AN Evesham lorry driver accused of causing the death of eight people in a crash when he stopped in the slow lane of the M1 appeared “normal” when he started his shift, a court heard.

Polish national Ryszard Masierak, 32, of Barnards Close, Evesham was allegedly stationary for 12 minutes at around 3am on August 26.

Masierak’s night shift supervisor at AIM Logistics, Mariusz Mazurek, told the court that when the driver signed in for his shift everything seemed fine and that he did not appear tired or ill.

He also told jurors that when Masierak started working for the company in June last year he would have been given information on health and safety.

Mr Mazurek added that it was forbidden for employees to consume illegal drugs, or alcohol, while at work.

The court also heard from lorry driver Matthew Norwood, who saw Masierak’s lorry stopped in the slow lane.

Mr Norwood said: “I looked over in disbelief, to see if the driver needed help, if he had broken down.

“There was no movement in the cab. I would expect someone to be in the cab, talking on the phone if they had broken down.”

Jurors also heard from another driver, Jared Peel, who had to go around Masierak’s lorry in order to avoid a crash - as caught on dash-cam footage shown to the jury.

Mr Patel beeped his horn to warn Masierak “what he was doing was dangerous,” the court heard.

On Thursday the jury was told the crash was “an entirely avoidable collision, with the most catastrophic of consequences”.

The court has heard that David Wagstaff, 54, was on a hands-free call when he smashed into Cyriac Joseph’s minibus as it waited to pull around Masierak’s lorry.

Mr Joseph and seven of his passengers were killed.

Wagstaff, from Stoke, has pleaded guilty to eight charges of causing death by careless driving, and four counts of careless driving.

Masierak and Wagstaff both deny eight counts of causing death by dangerous driving, and four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Masierak faces a further eight charges of causing death whilst over the alcohol limit.

It is alleged that he had 55 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.

Forensic toxicologist Nigel Lowe told jurors on Friday that was the alcohol reading at the police station at around 5.30am.

He suggested that in back calculation, to the time of the crash, there could have been between 62 and 89 micrograms per 100 millilitres of blood, and based on that he estimated it was 74 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath.

However, Mr Lowe conceded that if alcohol had been consumed an hour before the crash, then he may have overestimated.

The trial continues.