A VAN driver accused of causing an elderly pedestrian’s death by dangerous driving as he reversed the wrong way down a narrow one-way Wigton street has gone on trial.

William Hughes, an 84-year-old man who was in robust health, had been to Carlisle and back by bus on July 31, 2019.

After leaving the bus on Wigton’s Station Road instead of King Street, which was closed due to a police incident, Mr Hughes walked down narrow residential New Street on his way home. Traffic was only permitted to travel towards him although no vehicles were even able to enter New Street because of the closure.

“Little did he suspect, however, that the danger was to come from behind,” alleged prosecutor Jon Close at Carlisle Crown Court.

Mercedes Sprinter driver David Barron, unable to access New Street the correct way, instead reversed the wrong way into it at low speed, heading the same way as Mr Hughes. He did so first around a sharp left hand bend and then slowly along a straight section intending to visit Jacksons Models to check whether there were any parcels for collection.

In total, Mr Close told a jury, Barron reversed for around 72 metres — including 47 metres on the straight stretch — for about 22.5 seconds. His vehicle had no rear windows, nor a reversing camera nor warning sounds.

Mr Close said Barron’s vehicle, at around 4.5mph, “inevitably” caught up with Mr Hughes. “This was, to some extent, a slow moving tragedy but was one that should never have happened,” alleged the prosecutor.

There was, he told jurors, a “substantial” vehicle blind spot of 48.8 metres meaning that Mr Hughes was “hidden” from mirror view throughout. Mr Close alleged of Barron: “Simply put, by choosing to reverse over 47 metres the wrong way down a one-way street using a vehicle with a rear blind spot of 48 metres, he created an obvious and clear danger.”

It struck Mr Hughes, who fell forward and was trapped underneath the vehicle. He suffered multiple, unsurvivable injuries and died despite heroic efforts by emergency services personnel.

Barron, of Hillcrest Avenue, Carlisle, denies charges which allege that he caused Mr Hughes’ death by dangerous and, alternatively, careless driving. Mr Close alleged the standard of Barron’s driving fell far below and below, respectively, that of a careful and competent driver, suggesting to jurors: “The prosecution say that there was no reason for the defendant to take that risk.”

Addressing the jury, Judge Guy Mathieson had earlier said some evidence may be distressing to hear.

“You are here to judge this case — as hard as this may seem — with your heads and not your hearts. It is going to take an assessment of the standard of Mr Barron’s driving.

“It is a rather cold-hearted assessment of that driving and where it fell — if indeed it did fall — below the standard.”

The trial continues.