[M]OTORISTS have told how they helped out in the immediate aftermath of a fatal crash on the A66.
Jamie Armstrong, aged 30 and from Haltwhistle, died at the scene of a crash involving his Audi A4 and an HGV close to Stainmore cafe, east of Brough, on September 8 in 2016.
Ashley Cole, the 56-year-old wagon driver, has gone on trial at Carlisle Crown Court. Cole of Ecclesfield, near Sheffield, admits causing death by careless driving, but denies a charge alleging his driving, at 5-20am that morning, was dangerous.
Penrith-based recovery driver Roger Harold Raymond King and another driver, Jonathan Leslie Davidson, told the jury this afternoon (TUES) they saw the HGV trailer’s in the road, steered around it and stopped close to the crash scene.
Mr King recalled the wagon was “partially across the carriageway, filling the offside lane” and central reservation area. Cole was in “shock” and “disbelief” in the aftermath, said Mr King, who phoned the emergency services and activated extra lights on his vehicle to warn others “My prime intention was then to prevent any other vehicles ploughing into the exposed trailer and car,” he told jurors.
Company director Mr Davidson, who had begun his journey in the Appleby area, used a high power torch with a strobe light to alert oncoming motorists. “You wouldn’t want to leave the scene of an accident like that. It was precarious,” he said.
The trial continues.
