Shocking moment car crashes into ditch after overtaking lorry

Shocking moment a Vauxhall Corsa spins out of control, flips over and crashes into a ditch after it overtakes a lorry – as trucker is found guilty of careless driving

• Trucker Paul Horsfall, 44, accused of squeezing out car on A420 in Oxfordshire
• He denied this and claimed he eked right to avoid a brick… which wasn’t there
• Horsfall, of Odiham in Hampshire was acquitted of dangerous driving by justices
• He was found guilty of careless driving, fined £300 and given five penalty points

This is the shocking moment a car crashed into a ditch and flipped over multiple times after attempting to overtake a lorry being driven carelessly.

The Vauxhall Corsa is seen spinning out of control and skidding off the road as it overtook Paul Horsfall’s tanker on the A420.

The car then flipped over lengthways multiple times through a hedge at the border of the main road.

Lorry driver Horsfall, 44, was then accused of driving his large Scania lorry dangerously on November 10 last year.

Lorry driver Paul Horsfall moved his large Scania lorry out to the right as the Vauxhall Corsa (pictured) tried to overtake on the A420 on November 10 last year

The Vauxhall Corsa skidded after trying to overtake the lorry which was being driven carelessly

The hatchback then crashed into the side of the road and flipped over multiple times through a hedge on the road boundary

Prosecutors at Oxford Magistrates’ Court claimed trucker Paul Horsfall had deliberately moved over to the right to squeeze out the overtaking hatchback 

‘What you did was try to stop this overtaking of a vehicle you had seen behind you conducting other overtakes,’ prosecutor Mr Ryman put to Horsfall in court

Horsfall told the court he was ‘shocked, shaking, worried for the other driver,’ after the crash

Prosecutors at Oxford Magistrates’ Court claimed he had deliberately moved over to the right to squeeze out the overtaking hatchback.

However, the HGV driver of 20 years claimed he was moving out to avoid a brick which he accepted wasn’t actually there after watching dashcam footage.

They said he moved to the offside of the carriageway as the road went from two lanes to one near Kingston Bagpuize in Oxfordshire.

Giving evidence in his own defence Horsfall told the court that he thought he had seen a brick in the road and moved to the right to try and avoid it.

The manoeuvre had appeared slow in the video as there was a risk when moving liquid in a tanker that sudden ‘swerving’ movements could tip the lorry over.

Looking at the footage played to the court – captured on the dashboard camera in his own lorry – he accepted that there was no obstacle in the road.

He told his advocate on Wednesday: ‘I did check my mirrors [before moving to the right], but I couldn’t see anything down the side of me.’

Horsfall was asked whether he had deliberately swerved to the right in order to block the hatchback’s path.

‘I never in my dreams would I do that. It’s dangerous driving and a lorry could be a lethal weapon,’ he said.

He was asked: ‘After all this happened, how did you feel?’

‘[I was] shocked, shaking, worried for the other driver,’ he replied.

‘I never in my dreams would I do that. It’s dangerous driving and a lorry could be a lethal weapon,’ Horsfall said when asked whether he had deliberately swerved to the right in order to block the hatchback’s path. Pictured: Stock image of a tanker lorry

Horsfall maintained his account under cross-examination from the prosecutor.

Mr Ryman put to him: ‘What you did was try to stop this overtaking of a vehicle you had seen behind you conducting other overtakes.

‘You closed off its space to the extent it ended up in the gravel.’

The defendant replied: ‘No, I would never do anything like that.’

Magistrates were told that Horsfall had started his career as a bus driver and had been driving lorries for ‘about 20 years’. He had no previous convictions.

The justices acquitted Horsfall, of Odiham, Hampshire, of dangerous driving but found him guilty of an alternative charge of careless driving.

The lorry driver had offered to plead guilty to careless driving at an earlier point in the proceedings.

He was fined £300, given five penalty points and ordered to pay £119 in costs and surcharge.

Source: Read Full Article