A Polish lorry driver broke down in tears as jurors found him not guilty of killing five people in a horror crash on the M6 motorway.
Four women and a man - who were all living in Stoke-on-Trent - died in the collision, which happened between junction 14 for Eccleshall and junction 15 for Hanchurch in May last year.
Today Zbigniew Grzabel, aged 62, who was at the wheel of a Mercedes HGV which crashed into a Nissan Micra in 'a shower of sparks', was found not guilty.
The victims were driver Marius Zevian, aged 45, and passengers Cucoana Zevian, aged 49, Gheorghita Radu, aged 56, Nicoleta-Marinela Florea, aged 42, and 34-year-old Marcela Sandu.
They were all all Romanians living in Stoke-on-Trent who had been on their way to work at a fruit farm near Stafford.
A fifth passenger, Aurel Sandu, then aged 37, was seriously hurt in the crash which happened at 4.20am on May 24 last year.
Grzabel, of Tipton, West Midlands, went on trial charged with five counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
But after a week-long trial at Stafford Crown Court, he was cleared of all the charges by a unanimous verdict.
He wept uncontrollably as the verdicts were read out.
The trial heard Grzabel failed to spot the Nissan until he was only a short distance away from the vehicle.
But prosecutors said the car had earlier suffered mechanical problems caused by a missing water pump and had pulled over on the heard shoulder before continuing.
Jurors were also told Mr Zevian had been driving the car and four others were in the back seat not wearing seat belts.
After he was arrested, Grzabel told police he had been driving for 42 years and had held a UK licence for the last 11 years.
He said he was not tired having taken a break at Huddersfield and was driving at less than 50mph at the time of the fatal smash.
