ROAD ACCIDENT – A man who knocked down and killed a pensioner in Tameside had his vision ‘obscured’ by an air freshener and toy hanging from his rear-view mirror, a court heard.
Motorist Christopher Hardy, 65, collided with 85-year-old pedestrian Maria Clayton as he turned at a junction in Mossley.
Miss Clayton, who had been on a shopping errand in the run-up to Christmas, suffered multiple injuries and died 13 days later in hospital on Boxing Day.
Details of how it Unfolded
The court was told that grandfather and widower Hardy was driving slowly but failed to see her in the road as he turned left.
Prosecutors said he had performed an ‘unsafe manoeuvre’ and that: ‘There was an air freshener and a toy hanging from the defendant’s mirror which obscured his view.’
However, Hardy’s lawyer said the tragedy was the result of a ‘momentary lapse of concentration.’
He Pleaded Guilty
He is now facing up to three years in prison under sentencing guidelines after pleading guilty to causing death by careless driving.
The crash occurred at 3pm on Tuesday, December, 13, 2022 when Hardy, who was driving his Nissan Juke car, was approaching the junction of Cheshire Street and Egmont Street in Mossley.
‘The victim is Maria Clayton who was 85 years of age at the time of the incident,’ Laura Peers, prosecuting, told Tameside Magistrates Court.
She Suffered Some Crushes
‘She had left her address to go to the local shops and after she left the shops she walked across the street and came to a junction. Travelling essentially from Mr Hardy’s right to left she walked across the road across the street before coming to a stop at the end of the road, just at the mouth of the junction.
‘The defendant’s Nissan Juke approached the junction and began to turn left. In doing so he collided with the victim in this case.
As a result of the collision, Ms Clayton sustained fatal injuries. She was taken to hospital. She suffered broken ankles, two broken tibias, two broken fibulas and a shattered pelvis.’
