Telford retail park death crash trial starts
The driver of a van which hit and killed a 73-year-old woman in a Telford car park thought he had gone over a speed bump, a court heard.
Janet Lane was shopping at Wrekin Retail Park in Telford with her daughter on November 22, 2016, when she was knocked down by a Volkswagen Transporter.
The driver of the vehicle, Andrew Charles Richards, was charged with causing death by careless driving and appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday for the start of his trial.
Prosecuting barrister Mr Barnes told the jury Richards, who was 54 at the time, was seen by witnesses to be looking to his left when he struck Mrs Lane with the front driver's side of the vehicle.
Mr Barnes said there was no suggestion Richards was speeding or using a mobile phone, but that he had failed to spot her when he should have as she crossed the road diagonally.
The collision, at around 10.30am, was witnessed by Mrs Lane's daughter, Alison Offland, who said the vehicle did not stop until she approached it and hit the driver's window.
Trolley
In a taped interview played to the court, Mrs Offland said her mother was carrying shopping over the road from Home Bargains while she returned their trolley.
As Mrs Offland went to follow her mother across the road seconds later, she stopped as she saw Richards' vehicle approaching. She said the van emerged from a junction opposite the store and turned right, partly on the wrong side of the road, and the pair made eye contact as he looked to his left while turning.
Mrs Offland saw the back of Mrs Lane "one step from the kerb" before the impact, through the windscreen and then driver's window of Richards' vehicle.
Mrs Lane, a great-grandmother from Trench, died at the scene of multiple head and chest injuries.
In police interviews, Richards, of Orchard Close, Cressage, said that when he felt the sensation of his vehicle going over something he thought it was a speed bump. He descried himself as a competent driver with over 30 years' experience, and said as a flight instructor he understood the importance of being aware of his surroundings.
Richards claimed he was unable to see Mrs Lane as the 'A' pillar between his windscreen and driver's window caused a blind spot.
He denies the charge and the trial continues.
