A Nigerian-British taxi driver has been sentenced to six years in prison in the United Kingdom after falling asleep at the wheel and killing a man who had safely pulled over to rest — a case that has reignited concern over just how many hours drivers in the gig and taxi economy are working without proper rest.
The Collision
Shortly before 6:30am on August 17, 2025, an Audi driven by 45-year-old Kolawole Erunkulu swerved across the A23 in Merstham, Surrey, and struck 59-year-old Philip Dray, who had safely parked his Volkswagen in a layby and was opening the driver’s door to get back inside. Philip died at the scene. CCTV footage showed the Audi’s nearside wheels crossing completely over the white lines into the layby before the vehicle corrected course after the collision, and dashcam footage from inside Erunkulu’s car showed him yawning and closing his eyes moments before the crash. Surrey Police described what happened as a “microsleep” — a brief, involuntary episode lasting only seconds during which the brain stops processing outside information. Erunkulu, who holds joint British and Nigerian nationality and works as a taxi driver in Bexleyheath, south-east London, continued driving for another 10 seconds after the collision before pulling into the next layby.
The Sentencing
Erunkulu pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. Footage from his vehicle and data obtained from his employers showed that he had driven for around 53 hours over the three days before the crash, with his longest rest period being seven hours, and other breaks lasting around four hours and two hours; immediately before the collision, he had worked for about 12 hours with only minor breaks. At Guildford Crown Court, Her Honour Judge Lees said the footage showed Erunkulu was extremely tired and had continued driving commercially even though he must have known his condition, adding that the tragedy could have been avoided entirely had he simply stopped to sleep. He was sentenced to six years in prison — a sentence that would have been nine years had the case gone to trial rather than ending in a guilty plea — and disqualified from driving for eight years, with a requirement to pass an extended retest before he can reapply for his licence. Philip’s sister described him as dependable and steady, saying he never sought attention but cared deeply about others and treated people with respect and decency.
Fatigue Behind the Wheel Is a Recurring Killer on UK Roads
This case sits within a much wider, well-documented problem of driver fatigue in commercial and gig-economy driving across the UK. Insurance company Zurich has found that around 30% of serious motor accident claims it received over a recent five-year period were caused by driver fatigue, and that an estimated 300 people are killed every year on Britain’s roads in crashes involving a driver who fell asleep behind the wheel. In an earlier case that set a notable legal precedent, the director of a delivery company was fined for breaching health and safety regulations after one of its drivers, who had just finished a shift lasting more than 16 hours, was killed in a crash even though he was technically off duty at the time. Road safety body RoSPA has separately warned that professional drivers, including gig workers and taxi drivers, are more likely to crash than private drivers even accounting for higher mileage, and has called for a shift away from target-driven work cultures that push drivers toward unsafe hours.
A Regulatory Gap Gig and Taxi Drivers Fall Into
Advocacy groups monitoring the private hire and taxi sector have pointed out that, unlike lorry drivers, who are legally restricted to a maximum of four-and-a-half hours of driving without a break, there is no equivalent legal limit on how long taxi and private hire drivers can work in a day. Worker rights organisations have also raised concern that large taxi and private hire operators often classify drivers as self-employed, which some say allows companies to avoid direct responsibility for managing driver safety and rest, since imposing such rules could be treated as evidence of an employment relationship the companies would rather avoid.
How Exhaustion Turns Into Tragedy
Fatigue-related crashes like this one tend to follow a similar pattern: a driver pushes through tiredness because of financial pressure, target-driven pay structures, or a simple reluctance to lose income by stopping to rest, and the danger compounds during early-morning hours when the body’s natural drive to sleep is strongest. Acting Detective Inspector Rob Baldwin of Surrey Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit said this case highlighted the very real dangers of driving while fatigued, noting that Erunkulu had worked long hours with insufficient rest over the preceding days, building up what officers described as a significant sleep debt.
A Loss That Reaches Two Families
For Philip Dray’s family, the loss is permanent — a man they describe as gentle and caring, killed in the moments after safely pulling over to rest, the very precaution that should have kept him safe. For Erunkulu, the consequences are also severe and lasting: a six-year prison sentence, an eight-year driving ban, and the burden of having caused a death that prosecutors say could have been avoided entirely. Cases like this also cast a wider shadow over Nigerians working in the UK’s taxi and gig economy, a sector many depend on for income, by putting a spotlight on the pressure to keep working through exhaustion that the industry’s structure can create.
Preventing the Next Sleep-Debt Tragedy
Road safety advocates continue to call for a legal cap on daily driving hours for taxi and private hire drivers, similar to the rules already in place for lorry drivers, along with fatigue-monitoring technology that some fleets have begun adopting to detect signs of drowsiness before a crash occurs. Drivers themselves are urged to treat any sign of tiredness, however minor, as a reason to stop immediately rather than push through to finish a shift or reach a target.
A Preventable Tragedy on Both Sides
Six years is a heavy sentence, but as the judge in this case noted, the entire tragedy could have been avoided if Erunkulu had simply pulled over to sleep. We think this case is a sobering reminder for every driver working long, target-driven hours, in the UK or in Nigeria’s own transport sector, that a job is never worth the risk of falling asleep at the wheel — because as this case shows, the cost can be someone else’s life, and the driver’s own freedom, all at once.
Published by Ejoh Caleb
