Trial continues into fatal A360 crash near Salisbury
Tristan Medus, 47, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court following the death of van driver Andrew Fallows on the A360 near Salisbury on May 25, 2023. The trial began last Monday but judge Angela Morris was unwell at the end of last week, delaying proceedings. The case resumed on Monday, September 22.
The jury previously heard details about the chain of events leading to the crash, which happened at 7.30pm and saw the female driver of a red Mazda MX5 brake to avoid a pheasant that had run into the road. Medus was in the car behind - a black Toyota Corolla. Fallows' silver Renault Trafic van was heading in the other direction, away from the A303[1] and towards Salisbury.
After Medus came over the brow of the hill, following the Mazda, his car partly crossed the white lines in the middle of the road, which curved slightly to the right, and collided head-on with the van[2], which overturned and struck a tree. Mr Fallows was pronounced dead at the scene. His passenger sustained a dislocated jaw, fractured ribs and other injuries.
Medus denies causing death and serious injury by careless driving. He accepts that part of his car was on the wrong side of the road, but said he did not remember why, and claimed he was unable to react in time to the Mazda 'stopping or moving slowly', making a crash unavoidable. Prosecutor Sam Barker disputes the claim the Mazda had come to a near-standstill and argued Medus had time to brake.
Medus[3], who lives in Southampton but resided near Shrewton at the time of the crash, attended a voluntary police interview in September 2023. The court was read a transcript on Monday morning. He told officers: "I don't know if anyone else could have been able to avoid it.
They probably would have hit the Mazda and not crossed that line." Medus said he saw a "flash" of brake lights from the Mazda as it came into view. "That's when I panicked and slammed on the brakes," he said.
"It was only a quick flash of their brake lights, so I didn't know if they were stopped or rolling. "When I saw it, I didn't know if I was going to hit it. I panicked and slammed on the brakes.
"I just slammed it [the brake pedal] and tried to push it through the floor." In the transcript, he recalled seeing the Mazda's number plate getting 'closer and closer' and then waking up, having fallen unconscious in the crash. He said he left his car through the passenger door and initially confronted the Mazda driver, asking 'why she stopped', then turned, saw and approached the van.
Medus told the officers he had not seen the pheasant and only became aware of it when other people at the scene mentioned it. He said he 'did not know' why he crossed onto the other side of the road. "Maybe I panicked and pulled the wheel, but I don't remember doing that at all," he said.
On Monday afternoon, Medus was cross-examined by Mr Barker and defence counsel Charles Langley. The defendant told them the crash happened when he was driving home from work in Nursling, Hampshire, and he had likely woken up at around 5am to start his shift. Responding to questions from Mr Langley, Medus said: "I was going down the road.
There was nothing out of the ordinary. I came up to the brow of the hill. "At the brow, I saw the Mazda.
I didn't think anything of it because I thought it was moving. "I carried on, and I saw a flash of brake light, and I paid more attention to it, and I realised it was either stationary or moving very slowly." Responding to questions from Mr Barker, Medus said he could have stopped if time if the Mazda driver put her hazard lights on.
"I would have had early warning, so I should have been able to stop," he said. "I had no reason to know that the Mazda was not moving. You can't predict what the future holds.
Otherwise, we'd all be billionaires. "I've no idea how fast it was going. It can't have been going that fast, or it would have been out of the way by the time I came down there.
"If she had hazard lights or massive brake lights on, I would have known there was a hazard there." But Mr Langley asked: "She was moving when that collision happened, wasn't she? She comes to a rest 21 metres later.
"Her evidence was she heard the bang, hit the brakes, came to a stop."
Medus claimed the Mazda driver moved further up the road after hearing the crash behind her, then stopped and exited the vehicle.
The trial continues.