• A Taunton owner-driver who appealed for witnesses after being
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accused of causing a serious accident has been cleared of all charges after another driver came forward with vital evidence.
Roger Coles was accused of driving without due care and attention and not stopping following an accident in which a Land Rover Discovery rolled three times after swerving off the M5 behind him on 4 June 1996. He also faced a series of civil claims.
Coles always maintained the accident had had nothing to do with him—last week Cullompton Crown Court in Devon cleared him of all charges.
Coles had appealed for witnesses to help him clear his name and fellow driver Matthew Friendship from Tavistock read about Coles' plight in a copy of Commercial Motor in a transport cafe. He contacted Coles to say he had seen the incident and agreed to act as a witness.
Charges of failing to report an accident had already been dropped after mobile phone records showed Coles had dialled the emergency services. He called expert witnesses to show that his truck could not have been involved in a collision, as was alleged.
Coles says he is relieved the whole thing is over. He praises Friendship for coming forward but says the whole thing should never have come to court. "This has cost me a fortune in terms of the time it has taken," he says, "but at least I was able to clear my name."