A MAN has denied causing the death of his friend by careless driving.

Hereford Crown Court heard yesterday that Joel Jones was driving a Vauxhall Corsa with Jack McKenzie as a passenger on the B4348 near Peterchurch on Friday, September 3 in 2010 when it was involved in a crash with a baler being towed by a John Deere tractor coming in the opposite direction.

The court heard the headlights of the tractor were very bright and that the baler was slightly wider that the tractor.

Jones, now age 24, collided with the front offside wheel of the baler, the court heard. 

A fiat Punto following the car drove past the tractor before the driver was confronted by a cloud of dust and hit the Corsa.

Sadly, Jack McKenzie died from his injuries.

Prosecutors say Jones, of Chapel Bungalow, Skenfrith, Abergavenny, must have been driving in the region of 40 to 50mph – which is not in itself fast – but that the glaring lights of the tractor were an obvious hazard to any oncoming driver.

John Kellett, prosecuting, said: "Put simply, the defendant could not have been anticipating or expecting to see the protruding wheel because of the glaring lights of the tractor but he only had hit that protruding wheel because, approaching that hazard, he was driving too far over to the right, on or about the centre white line at too high a speed for the circumstances that he found himself in."
 

The trial continues…