The families of two men killed in a horrific motorway smash are outraged that the HGV driver to blame was jailed for the equivalent of only a year for each life.

Trainee police officer Andrew Jones, 26, of Guiseley, and Robert Jones, 49, a customer service engineer, of Crossflatts, Bingley, died instantly in a catastrophic nine-vehicle pile-up on the M62 on August 29 last year.

Robert Jones's work van was "ridden over" by a 22-ton articulated lorry driven by David Harding, 36.

The impact caused carnage on the motorway with vehicles concertinaing into one another.

Andrew Jones's Peugeot 106 turned into a fireball after it was catapulted across all three lanes of the eastbound carriageway between Birstall and Tingley. Harding, of Burnall Street, Swadlingcote, Derbyshire, admitted causing the deaths by dangerous driving of both men, who were not related, when he appeared at Leeds Crown Court last month.

Yesterday he was jailed for two years, banned from driving for three years and ordered to take an extended driving test.

The court heard it was a mystery why the trucker with "an impeccable driving record" ploughed into traffic queuing on to the M1 at Junction 29.

Judge James Stewart QC said it was a catastrophic error that caused human tragedy. The crash had left two families devastated by grief and no sentence could make up for that.

At 7.45am on a sunny morning he was doing 54mph in his DAF lorry when he failed to see the queue of stationary and slow-moving vehicles ahead.

"Why is a complete mystery to me, and no doubt to you," the judge told Harding. He said the case was also a tragedy for Harding himself.

But later the angry families of the two men joined the police in condemning the sentence. Robert Jones's wife, Gail, 47, of Crossflatts, his mother, Margaret Walker, 72, and his step-father, John Walker, 73, were outraged. With them were Andrew Jones's mother, Christine Jones, his step-father, Mel Harrison, and Andrew's brother, Chris Jones.

All said they were disgusted by the two-year jail sentence. Margaret Walker said: "We thought it would be more than a year for each life."

Mrs Christine Jones said the judge had not taken enough account of all the other people traumatised and injured and the family felt robbed of justice.

Christine Jones said: "Our sentence is life. His sentence will get easier and ours will get harder."

Gail Jones said she would have to explain the sentence to the couple's three children and two grandchildren.

During the case, prosecutor Patrick Palmer said warnings about the queue were in place on the motorway: "The prosecution simply does not know why he failed to observe that traffic."

The court heard Harding had begun work at 4am in Leicestershire. He made a delivery in Shipley and took a break before returning to the motorway. The lorry smashed into Robert Jones's stationary Peugeot van and trapped it underneath. The van shunted into Andrew Jones's car and that collided with a minibus. The Peugeot car was propelled across the motorway and caught fire. The minibus was lifted in the air. It span 90 degrees and tipped over, hitting an Astra car. Nine vehicles were extensively damaged.

Harding, who was treated in hospital for minor injuries, told police his attention was distracted by a van he thought was going to cut in front of him and he was then blinded by the sun.

But Mr Palmer said Harding failed to see the queue at all, although he had 53 seconds in which to realise the danger.

Harding told police he was not tired and had not been asleep. A breath test was negative.

Julian Goose, QC, said in mitigation: "Nothing that I can say on behalf of Mr Harding would ever, could ever, allay the grief the families of both the victims have suffered. Nothing I can say can bring back these lives."

He said Harding, a father-of-two, was a hard-working man who had been driving HGVs since he was 19. He drove more than 100,000 miles a year and had just one speeding offence.

"The consequences were catastrophic but they were never intended," he said.

Afterwards Sergeant Carl Quinn, of West Yorkshire Police Motorway Department, said the accident was the worst he had seen. He did not think the sentence reflected the work involved in the investigation. He said: "Drivers of these vehicles need to be aware of the consequences of not taking appropriate care. Unfortunately, this case has highlighted that when a large goods vehicle is involved in such a collision consequences can be catastrophic."