Family pays tribute to ‘devoted’ mum killed by speeding lorry driver
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Tributes have been paid to a 74-year-old woman who was killed after she was hit by a lorry when the driver skipped a red light. Patricia Grace was struck by the vehicle while crossing the road on her way to volunteer at church in Kidlington, Oxfordshire in 2022.
Driver Dariusz Meczynski, 51, was finally jailed for three years and nine months for the killing in December this year after pleading guilty to one count of causing death by dangerous driving. Following the sentencing, Patricia’s son Oliver Grace paid tribute to his mother and described her death ‘completely avoidable and needless’.
![[HGV driver Dariusz Meczynski]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_234224236-53c5.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
He said: ‘The actions of Dariusz Meczynski on that day, behind the wheel of a heavy goods vehicle led to the completely avoidable and needless death of my beloved mother Patricia Grace. ‘My mother left home on that Thursday morning to go volunteer cleaning at her local catholic church.
‘An act of kindness that she had done every Thursday morning for as long as anyone can remember. ‘As we know she was not to arrive that day due to the criminally dangerous driving of Meczynski. ‘She did not deserve to lose her life that morning, she was simply using a pedestrian crossing that was on green for her.
‘Mum was a very cautious individual, and the green cross code was drummed into us as children, she had every right to use that crossing and should have been safe to do so. ‘We don’t know why Meczynski did not see her but it is clear that he must have been woefully distracted for a prolonged period as he approached the pedestrian crossing that was on red for traffic.
