Close examination wins
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• Grimsby Crown Court has acquitted a Fleetwood driver of causing death by dangerous driving following detailed examination of the relevant tachograph chart.
Pandoro driver Jack Matthews' artic was involved in a fatal accident on the A18 at Barnoldby le Beck in Lincolnshire when bales of straw fell from his trailer and killed the driver of a car which was travelling in the opposite direction.
Prosecuting-, John Stobart said a police officer had reconstructed the accident, concluding the lorry had negotiated the bend at the bottom of the hill at 46 or 47mph.
PC Roy Hindmarsh said he had reached that conclusion after examining the tachograph chart with a desk-top magnifier and driving through the bend in a police car and later in a similar artic, which for his test was unladen. He drove at 46mpli in the police car and 30, 35 and 40mph in the truck. He agreed with Mark Lapprell, defending, that he thought 35mph was safe.
Lapprell said that Matthews told police he had decelerated using an engine brake then braked normally to a speed at which he felt it was safe. He had experience on that road carrying bales of straw, and had no idea why the accident had occurred.
Lapprell said the tyre on the front of the twin axles on the offside of the trailer had gone over the centre line and left a hot rubber tyre mark on the road surface. The rim of the wheel had gouged two furrows in the road. The load, having tipped over to the offside, broke the restraining ropes, allowing the trailer to right itself.
PC Hindmarsh agreed hot tyre marks could result if the tyre was substantially deflated but did not accept that it had been. He conceded the tyre pressures had not been checked by examiners.
Forensic scientist Andrew Mulley said he had examined the tacho chart microscopically. He agreed there were two periods of substantial deceleration at least 200m and possibly 400m before the driver ran into difficulty. He concluded that when the accident began the lorry was doing 28-29mph.
Directing that a not-guilty verdict be entered at the end of the prosecution case, Judge Inglis said there was insufficient evidence on which the jury could possibly consider convicting Matthews.