Thu, 22 Dec 2016
The teenage driver of a tipper truck that crashed and killed four people has been cleared of all charges.
Phillip Potter, now aged 20, was cleared of dangerous and careless driving in the accident last February in which a 32-tonne lorry with faulty brakes sped out of control on Lansdown Hill, Bath, hitting pedestrians.
Mitzi Steady, four, Robert Parker, 59, Philip Allen, 52, and Stephen Vaughan, 34, died in the crash last February.
Haulage boss Matthew Gordon, 30, and mechanic Peter Wood, 55, were found guilty of manslaughter following a three week trial at Bristol Crown Court.
In his summing up, Mr Potter’s defence barrister told the jury that the cause of the accident was not the fault of his client.
Mr Ian Bridge, of No5 Chambers, said: “The entire cause is nothing to do with this 19-year-old lad who was doing his best.
“Rather it was to do with him being given a vehicle with defective brakes.
“This is a dreadful set of circumstances, an appalling story and yet it could have happened to any one of us.”
Ian Bridge defended the case with Tim Pole at No5 Chambers, on instruction from Tim Ingram at DWF. Ian Bridge and Tim Pole specialise in motor prosecutions, defending drivers facing manslaughter and other charges arising from fatal and serious injury road traffic incidents.
Over the last three years, Mr Bridge has been instructed in more than 50 such cases.
To read more about Ian Bridge’s defence summing up, click here.
And to read a summary of the trial and its verdicts, click here.
Ian Bridge and Tim Pole are part of the No5 Regulatory and Licensing Group.
