A RIBBLE Valley lorry driver has denied causing the deaths of three members of the same family by dangerous driving.

Neil Margerison, of Ribchester Road, Clayton-le-Dale, is accused of driving dangerously when his lorry collided with a car carrying the Rees family on the A17 Sleaford Road in Cranwell, Lincolnshire, on January 5, this year.

Flight Lieutenant Neville Rees, 43, his wife Karen, 41, and their 11-year-old son Andrew were killed when their car was crushed between two lorries near their home at RAF Cranwell, where they lived.

Margerison, 23, denied three charges of causing death by dangerous driving at Lincoln Crown Court yesterday.

At the time of the crash police said that the Rees' family red Peugeot estate was involved in a crash with two lorries, one of which burst into flames with the family's car underneath it.

All three family members were declared dead at the scene.

They were survived by son David, 14, who was elsewhere with friends at the time of the accident.

Earlier this year, the Czech driver of the first lorry, Oldrich Frank, 29, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and was sentenced to a day's jail and a year's driving ban for his role in the crash.

Margerison's case was adjourned by the court and will resume in March next year. He was released on bail.