Death crash lorry driver in court

Nov 19 2008 by Craig Robertson, Dumfries Standard Wednesday

A CASE in which a lorry driver and a transport firm have been accused of road traffic offences following a crash in which a car passenger died on the outskirts of Dumfries, has been continued for two weeks at the town’s sheriff court.

The accident happened in January on the A75 road near Mouswald Banks east of the Collin by-pass and the road was blocked for several hours.

In court, lorry driver Fernando Rosa, aged 48, from Magherafelt in Northern Ireland, pleaded not guilty to driving carelessly and crossing into the eastbound carriageway directly into the path of an oncoming car driven by Callum Marshall with his passenger William Walker, both of whom were severely injured and as a result of which the passenger died.

Rosa was also alleged to have driven at 50 miles an hour when limited to 40 and using a lorry with a braking system not up to the construction and use requirement and a tyre of insufficient tread.

The transport firm, Kelly European Freight Services, from Lisburn, denies causing and permitting the driver to use the lorry without a goods vehicle test certificate in force and with the contraventions under the Construction and Use requirements.