Biker lost leg in crash after being knocked off by Shropshire driver overtaking lorry, court told

Deon Zwanepoel, 58, was airlifted to Stoke Hospital after the crash but surgeons were unable to save the lower part of his right leg.

Stephen Singh, of Cordwell Park, Wem, admits being the driver of the VW Passat which struck him but is on trial denying causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

A jury heard how Mr Zwanepoel went out for a ride on his bright orange Kawasaki motorbike around lunchtime on October 4 last year and was on the A49 heading towards Whitchurch, a route he had ridden many times, when the accident happened.

After checking all was clear a bin lorry driven by John Hartshorn turned right on to the main road from Snab Lane, near Cholmondley, and it had only been on the road a few seconds before the Passat overtook him and gave the motorbike a glancing blow.

Both drivers stopped and ran back to the injured man, who had been thrown from his machine, before he was airlifted to hospital. He was found to have injuries to his right foot requiring his leg to be amputated before the knee.

He had also suffered a fractured left knee and left thumb, said Zia Chaudhry, prosecuting. When questioned by police at the scene Singh said he slowed down when the bin lorry pulled out and “edged to the left, looked left and then looked right and had not seen anything coming so committed to the overtake and was half way pas the lorry I have seen the bike“I moved to the left and clipped the bike, slammed on and stopped.”

At the police station he said that the bike “came from nowhere and could not understand why the collision had occurred”. He said he travelled that route three or four times a year, adding: “On this occasion I made a mistake and didn’t see that vehicle.”

The victim, who spent some time in hospital and whose machine was a write-off, told police how he was almost adjacent to the lorry when “out from behind it came a shiny black vehicle straight into my vehicle”.

The accident was captured on CCTV cameras on the bin wagon and footage from these was played to the jury.

Singh, 28, told the court that he had been travelling at about 50mph along the A49 but had slowed down when he saw the bin lorry pulling out. He said he moved to the left and then the right, saw nothing approaching and committed to overtaking.

He said: “I cannot apologise enough, I understand he has a life-changing injury.

“It wasn’t my intention when I went out to cause injury to anyone.

“I cannot change it, if I could I would but it isn’t possible.”

Asked by his barrister Marc Le Brocq if he accepted that he was guilty of careless driving and responsible for the injuries he replied, “yes”.

He added: “I thought the manoeuvre was safe, but it wasn’t.”

Singh had to have a break while giving evidence after appearing flustered and he explained that he has had 22 cardiac arrests, resulting in frontal lobe damage which causes some memory problems.

He said that he had not seen the arrow on the road indicating danger and for overtaking vehicles to pull in before the slight bend further ahead and thought it had been obscured by the wagon.

However when cross-examined by Mr Chaudhry and shown the CCTV footage again he agreed he had passed the arrow before overtaking.

He said: “I didn’t see the arrow, I can’t explain why.”

He said he was not in a rush and drove heavy plant and had never had an accident before.

The case continues