A van driver whose apprentice was killed when he crashed into a lorry in a lay-by on the Bedford bypass said: “What am I going to say to his parents?”
Benjamin Norman told a lorry driver who went to help: “I can’t believe I am sat here and he is gone,” a jury heard on Wednesday, January 5, 2022.
Mr Norman, 39, a roofer, of Foster Way, Wootton is alleged to have been “intoxicated by cannabis” when his van drifted across two lanes of the A421 before hitting the parked lorry.
He pleads not guilty at Luton Crown Court to causing the death of 19-year-old Thomas Smith by dangerous driving. He also denies a lesser, alternative charged of causing death by careless driving.
Prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson said the accident happened between Cardington and Great Barford at around 7.15am on November 1, 2018.
Dash-cam footage from a lorry and a car was played to the jury which showed the impact.
Mr Ward-Jackson said: “A number of motorists stopped to offer assistance and it was quickly established that Thomas Smith had sadly died.
“A lorry driver, Richard Hull, was parked on the other side of the road and crossed to speak to the defendant. The defendant was shocked and said something like: ‘What am I going to say to his parents he is only 20-years-old. I can’t believe I am sat here and he is gone.”
The emergency services were called and Thomas, who was known as Tom, was pronouced dead. Benjamin Norman passed an alcohol test, but when asked to take a drug test said: “I will fail that. I had a smoke last night.”
Mr Ward-Jackson said the word ‘smoke’ – referred to cannabis. He said it was the prosecution case that it was more likely that he had smoked cannabis that day.
At the scene Benjamin Norman told a police officer: “I have no idea what happened. I am pretty sure I was in the fast lane. I don’t know if I fell asleep or blacked out.”
Norman was taken to Bedford hospital and was found to have no internal injuries and only small scratches to his head. He was discharged as fit and taken to Kempston police station.
The prosecutor said the defendant was given a blood at test at 11.50am – 13 hours after he claimed he had last smoked cannabis. He was found to have 5.5 mg of cannabis per litre of blood – the legal limit is 2mg.
When questioned by the police he made no comment.
A collision expert found that the Volvo lorry had been correctly parked, there were no relevant defects to the van, which had its speedometer frozen at 60mph at the time of the collision.
The jury was told the defence case was that Benjamin Norman had not taken cannabis that morning and lost control of the van because he was suffering from epilepsy that had not been diagnosed at that time.
But Mr Ward-Jackson said: “Drifting from lane to lane is typical of someone driving while intoxicated by cannabis. The prosecution say the accident would not have occurred had he not smoked cannabis.
“He had consumed so much cannabis the night before, or more likely in morning, or both that it substantially impaired his driving.”
Tom’s mother Lyndsey Smith said he had got a job as an apprentice roofer with Benjamin Norman. She said Tom had told him Ben was smoking cannabis in the van and that in the summer her son had started taking it as well.
Case proceeding.
