Jury told of death smash
A retired bank official charged with causing the death by dangerous driving of a friend in a Mid Wales smash has admitted he should not have tried to overtake when he did. A retired bank official charged with causing the death by dangerous driving of a friend in a Mid Wales smash has admitted he should not have tried to overtake when he did. But Christopher Barfoot, 54, told Mold Crown Court yesterday he had not driven dangerously and believed at the time that the road ahead was clear. Barfoot, of Leacroft, Stone, Staffordshire, denies causing the death by dangerous driving of John Phillips, a rear seat passenger in his Ford Escort car, in the crash on the A470 on September 16 last year. Mr Phillips, also from Stone, died a few days later from serious head injuries. The trial continues. Read the full story in today's Shropshire Star
A retired bank official charged with causing the death by dangerous driving of a friend in a Mid Wales smash has admitted he should not have tried to overtake when he did.
But Christopher Barfoot, 54, told Mold Crown Court yesterday he had not driven dangerously and believed at the time that the road ahead was clear.
He denied he had simply followed another vehicle and overtaken a lorry on the Cwmbelan bypass near Llanidloes.
Barfoot, of Leacroft, Stone, Staffordshire, said he had checked it was safe for him to pass and believed it was. He said the on-coming car he crashed into must have been obscured by the vehicle in front.
Barfoot denies causing the death of John Phillips, a rear seat passenger in his Ford Escort car, in the crash on the A470 on September 16 last year.
Mr Phillips, also from Stone, died a few days later from serious head injuries.
The prosecution claims Barfoot had been tailgating other vehicles, was over-anxious to overtake a lorry and did so when there was no chance of completing the move safely.
Mr Andrew Green, prosecuting, said as Barfoot was overtaking the lorry, he was confronted by an on-coming car, a white Astra driven by Myles Chapple Gill, and there was a head-on crash.
Mr Green said Mr Chapple Gill and his passenger Simon Owen, both from Newtown, were travelling between 55mph and 60mph when they saw a car overtake a lorry and pull in sharply. It was followed "within moments" by the defendant's blue Escort.
Barfoot denied he had been tailgating or pressurising other drivers during his journey from Aberystwyth.
He said a car in front overtook the lorry and he checked the road was clear. He started to overtake, but as the car in front completed his manoeuvre he realised a car was approaching.
The only avoiding action he could take was to steer right into a lay-by but the approaching car did the same and they collided.
Barfoot, under cross-examination by Mr Green, said: "With the benefit of hindsight, it was an incorrect thing to do, but I believed it was safe at the time."
The trial continues.
By Deborah Knox