A ROMANIAN lorry driver has been jailed after he drove his truck on the wrong side of the road and smashed head-on into a fire service worker, killing him.

Floretin Humeniuc, 54, drove for more than half a mile on the wrong side of the A417 after leaving the M50, Gloucester Crown Court heard.

He drove for 820 metres uphill along the wrong lane before smashing into an oncoming Mercedes panel van, driven by fire service engineer Michael Bryan.

Julian Kesner, prosecuting, said Mr Bryan, who was on his way to repair an appliance at Ross-on-Wye Fire Station, was killed instantly in the crash. Humeniuc, 54, a father-of-two who lives in Spain, had been at the wheel of his 38-tonne truck for nine minutes before the collision.

From the time it crossed the Channel to Dover that evening, the truck had been driven by the co-driver and Humeniuc had taken over nine minutes earlier at Strensham Services on the M5, Mr Kesner said.

Humeniuc admitted causing the death of Mr Bryan by dangerous driving on March 15 this year at Bromsberrow, on the Gloucestershire border.

He was jailed for two years and banned from driving for two years. The judge, Recorder Paul Dugdale, said: "It is clear he took up a driving position in the right-hand lane as if he was on the Continent.

"It is accepted by everybody that this was a lapse of concentration and that until he saw Mr Bryan's van approaching he was not aware of his error."

Mr Kesner had told the court Mr Bryan, 56, of Worcester, was a bachelor who is survived by his father. In the minutes before the collision, Mr Kesner said, Humeniuc had started driving at Strensham and had travelled along the M50 to junction 2.

He said: "Until that point, his sole driving in England had been for nine minutes or so on motorways.

"He came off the motorway, turned right onto the A417 and reverted to continental driving mode, if I can put it that way.

"The Continent is where he does the predominant amount of his driving."

Humeniuc was doing 20mph when he started to brake and had decreased to just 9mph on impact. The panel van dropped from 50mph to 37mph as Mr Bryan braked. Simon Morgan, defending, said Humeniuc had been a professional lorry driver since 1976 and had no convictions in any of the countries where he drives.

He drove tens of thousands of miles a year in Europe and had driven about 20 times in the UK before the accident.

A married man, he has one daughter who is a doctor and another at university, he said.

His wife, who works as a cleaner in Spain, had been unable to afford to visit him in custody since his arrest and his two daughters had seen him only once, Mr Morgan said. Humeniuc had been filled with "bitter regret and remorse".