A LORRY driver has appeared at Carlisle Crown Court accused of causing the death of two soldiers by driving dangerously on the A66 in Cumbria.

Colin Pattison, 52, was charged after the two men - both based at Catterick, North Yorkshire - died following a collision between his lorry and the Army Land Rover ambulance they were in on the A66 at Stainmore.

The victims - Lance Sergeant David Mark Gartland, 40, of the Grenadier Guards and Private James Bell Fairburn Austin, 24, of 400 Troop Royal Logistics Corps - were returning from a training exercise at Warcop firing range, near Appleby, when the accident happened at 1.40pm on Thursday, September 1 2011.

On Monday Pattison, of New Close Lodge, Newclose Lane, Goole, North Humberside, pleaded not guilty to the charge of causing their deaths by dangerous driving.

He was remanded on bail and will go on trial on September 4.