THE father of a North-East man killed in a crash days before his wedding has welcomed plans for a new law that could see careless drivers who cause deaths being jailed.

RAF technician Kristoffer Tott, 22, of Hartburn, Stockton, who was due to marry his American fiancee Blair Anderson, died near Newmarket, Suffolk, in December when his car was clipped by a lorry, sending it into the back of another lorry.

Dutch lorry driver Huig Ouwehand, 52, denied careless driving but was convicted by magistrates at Sudbury in September and banned from driving in Britain for two years.

Ouwehand, who also admitted exceeding his driving hours and failing to take a statutory break, was fined a total of £2,300 but was cleared of failing to stop after an accident, which he denied. He is appealing against conviction and sentence.

The Government has announced plans to introduce a new offence in its Road Safety Bill - causing death by careless driving - which would carry a maximum jail sentence of five years.

Drivers charged with careless driving after a fatal accident currently face a maximum penalty of a £2,500 fine.

Mr Tott said last night: "I'm all for it. I do welcome this new law, the sooner the better.

"It would certainly make drivers more aware of what they should be doing."

The parents of Laura Burrows-Schofield, ten, of Durham City - who was killed by a speeding driver last year - also welcomed the new law, after Christopher Mitchell, 19, was fined £500 for careless driving.

Lee Hainsworth, 26, of Stockton, was killed when a car ploughed into the back of his car while he was parked in a lay-by in February last year.

Kathryn Graham, 31, of Cramlington, Northumberland, admitted careless driving and was banned for six months and fined £200.

After the court case last November, Mr Hainsworth's mother, Margaret, described the sentence as a "mockery".