Trial of lorry driver after fatal A420 crash: Experts called

Tom Glancy, 64, died on July 16, 2020 on the A420 near Pusey after his milk float caught fire following a head-on collision with a heavy goods vehicle. The driver of the lorry, Barry Archer, 43, is now on trial at Oxford Crown Court accused of causing Mr Glancy's death by dangerous driving. He denies the charge, and an alternative plea from Archer of causing death by careless driving was rejected by the prosecution.

Barry Archer, on trial for causing death by dangerous driving (Image: NQ) In the first day of the trial, prosecuting counsel Oliver Weech set out the case against Archer, alleging that he was travelling down the wrong side of the single-carriageway road into oncoming traffic[2] due to fatigue or distraction. The defence's case from David Langwallner rests on Archer having seen a deer at the side of the road about 12ft ahead of him, by his own admission, swerving around it into the other lane resulting in the crash. Missed a copy of the Oxford Mail you wanted?

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On the third day of the trial on Wednesday, (May 21), expert witness, Luke Hooper, a forensic collision investigator, was cross examined by the defence. Factors of possible causation in the crash were examined by the investigator, who reconstructed the scene along with other experts. In his opinion, fatigue was the most likely cause.

Mr Hooper told the court that the case met the criteria for those which considered fatigue as a likely cause, namely that point of impact could be seen by the driver for several seconds before collision and the driver could have clearly seen the point of run off. It also includes that there were no mechanical failures of the vehicle, bad weather and poor road conditions, and the driver did not have excess levels of alcohol or any medical issues. Mr Hooper added that the lorry driver in this case met all the criteria for a fatigued driver, and would have been able to see the oncoming milk float for 3.3 seconds, experts estimated on the assumption that both were travelling at the speed limit.

However, Mr Langwallner asked: "If a deer ran in front of you could it not have caused all that?" To which Mr Hooper responded, "It could do, yes." But, he added: "Given the findings of the experts and the fact that the deer was 12ft in front of Mr Archer, that would not have been possible." "The deer would have had to be between 38 to 47 metres away."

The defence established that Archer had made the claims about the deer repeatedly and contemporaneously to the accident, telling the police operator on a 999 call at the scene, a paramedic, and in a later police interview. In the call, Archer said: "I swerved out of the way for a deer and all of a sudden I just looked up and there he was in front of me." At another point, he told the call operator: "I just know I am going to go to prison, because he is dead."

On the first day of trial, Mr Weech said his claim of swerving for an obstruction was "improbable at best and untrue at worst."

The trial continues.

References

1. ^ Bicester fire: Family pays tribute to firefighter Martyn Sadler (www.oxfordmail.co.uk)
2. ^ traffic (www.oxfordmail.co.uk)
3. ^ https://t.co/n1aacoWEDF (t.co)
4. ^ February 22, 2024 (twitter.com)
5. ^ Former Oxfordshire pub manager jailed for sexual assault (www.oxfordmail.co.uk)
6. ^ Bicester Motion Fire: Update on two hospitalised firefighters (www.oxfordmail.co.uk)
7. ^ Abingdon young mother jailed after boyfriend's fatal crash (www.oxfordmail.co.uk)