Tipper truck crushed girl 4, to death with three others after ‘brakes failed as it was driven by inexperienced driver’
AN "INEXPERIENCED" driver was put behind a wheel of a heavily-loaded truck that caused "absolute devastation", killing four people including a four-year-old girl, a court has heard.
While the driver and two other men have pleaded not guilty to a string of offences relating to the horrific fatal crash, they have been slammed as "criminally responsible" for the tragedy in court.
Little Mitzi Steady was killed by a "heavily loaded" truck, along with Robert Parker, 59, Philip Allen, 52, and Stephen Vaughan, 34, in Bath, Somerset, in February last year.
Opening the trial for the prosecution, Adam Vaitilingam QC told the jury of seven men and five women the defendants were responsible "for what went wrong that day".
Describing the tragedy, he said the four victims had been struck by the heavily loaded Scania truck - which had almost 450,000 miles on the clock - carrying aggregate down Lansdown Lane in Upper Weston just after 4pm on February 9, 2015.
The truck killed Mitzi as well as injuring her grandmother.
The vehicle's driver, Phillip Potter, 20, his boss Matthew Gordon, 30, and mechanic Peter Wood, 55, face 14 charges in connection with the incident but have all denied the charges.
Vaitilingam recounted the tragedy, telling the court: "On February 9 last year, a Wiltshire company called Grittenham Haulage sent two of its lorries out to pick up materials and deliver them to various building sites around the area.
"The drivers were Mr Gordon and Phillip Potter. Gordon was the owner of Grittenham Haulage Limited. Potter was an inexperienced driver who worked for him.
"He had only been at the company for a few days. Although he was driving that lorry, he was in reality following after the lorry that was being driven by his boss."
He said that Potter and Gordon had made four trips to Shorncote Quarry to collect aggregate, taking the weights of both lorries almost to their maximum of 32 tonnes.
But as the "fully laden" trucks headed to their final destination - the park and ride at Newbridge, close to Bath - tragedy struck.
Vaitilingam claimed the 11-year-old lorry was poorly maintained by Gordon and Wood and had "major problems with the braking" on six of its eight wheels.
The company was supposed to have a designated transport manager, responsible for ensuring the lorries were safe.
However, Gordon saw this as "not a necessity but a nuisance" and did not have a transport manager in the months before February 2015, the court heard.
Wood was employed by Grittenham Haulage to maintain the lorries and carry out inspections every six weeks.
In police interview, he said the fleet should have been inspected every three weeks, telling officers: "Tipper lorries go through hell".
Virtually no defects were recorded in paperwork for the lorry, which had 710,000km - almost 450,000 miles - on the clock.
Following the crash, experts found "serious and long-standing" issues with the lorry's braking system, the court heard.
Wood insists the vehicle was safe on January 17, the last time he inspected it.
But Mr Vaitilingam told the jury: "This sort of catastrophic brake failure doesn't just happen through bad luck.
"This was entirely predictable, the result of poor management and a disregard for the rules and a failure to comply with routine guidelines.
"It was, put simply, an accident waiting to happen."
Mr Vaitilingam said: "Gordon's lorry was in front and leading the way but as they went down the hill the brakes of Potter's lorry failed.
"His lorry continued to career down Lansdown Lane out of control. It caused absolute devastation.
"By the time it finally came to a stop, four people had suffered fatal injuries - a four-year-old girl who had been crossing the road with her grandmother, and three men who had been travelling together in the same car.
"We, the prosecution, say that they (the defendants) each carry criminal responsibility for what went wrong that day and therefore for the deaths of those people and the serious injuries too."
He claimed Wood, who was granted an operator's licence in December 2013, was "not interested" in running his business properly.
"His operation was a shambles from start to finish," he told the jury.
Potter denies causing the deaths of Mitzi, Mr Parker, Mr Allen and Mr Vaughan by dangerous driving and by careless driving.
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The 20-year-old is also charged with causing serious injuries to Karla Brennan and Margaret Rogers - Mitzi's grandmother - by dangerous driving.
Mitzi had been crossing the road with her grandmother. The three men had been travelling together in the same car.
Gordon denies the manslaughter of Mitzi, Mr Parker, Mr Allen and Mr Vaughan by failing to ensure that the brakes of the truck were in a safe condition.
The 30-year-old is also charged with causing their deaths by dangerous driving and by careless driving, and causing serious injuries to Mrs Brennan and Mrs Rogers by dangerous driving.
Wood is accused of the manslaughter of Mitzi, Mr Parker, Mr Allen and Mr Vaughan by failing to ensure that the brakes of the truck were in a safe condition.
Judge Mr Justice Langstaff outlined the case to the prospective jury yesterday, saying: "In its path along the road, the lorry came into contact with and killed a child - a four-year-old girl - crossing at a pedestrian crossing and injured the grandmother who was taking her across the crossing.
"It hit other cars and there's no dispute that a consequence of those collisions was that three of the occupants of those cars died and others may have sustained."
The judge said that the case was "very important".
The trial is expected to last between three and four weeks.