A LORRY driver was on a phone call when he made an “obviously dangerous manoeuvre” to overtake a cyclist causing a collision on a bend which killed a motorcyclist, a court has heard.

Motorcyclist Jack Burgess, 22, suffered fatal injuries after his helmet ‘scrubbed’ the wheels of a Scania articulated lorry driven by Lucian-Sorin Todor on the A32 at Warnford, close to Hayden Lane, on June 29, 2019. Mr Burgess, of Hillside Close, Waterlooville, died in hospital the next day.

Todor went on trial today at Winchester Crown Court accused of causing death by dangerous driving. He denies the charge, but the jury has been told he does admit the lesser charge of causing death by careless driving.

Opening the case, prosecutor Tom Wilkins said: “The defendant does accept that his actions were the cause of death of Jack Burgess. He claims that it was merely careless, while the crown maintain that he was dangerous.

“For an articulated lorry to overtake on solid double white lines around a bend with a restricted visibility with a high possibility of vehicles coming in the other direction and whilst taking a phone call is an obviously dangerous manoeuvre.

“The defendant should not have overtaken the cyclist, he did not need to, the cyclist was clearly there to be seen and there was time for him to brake and slow down.”

Mr Wilkins said that the cyclist would have been visible for “100 metres or so” but Todor, who has a Romanian interpretor, has claimed that “he felt blinded by the sun” and only saw the cyclist at the last moment.

The 52-year-old overtook the cyclist crossing the white line, which was spotted by two vehicles travelling in the opposite direction, an Audi A6, Vauxhall Zafira, which were followed by a Yamaha motorcycle ridden by Mr Burgess.

The driver of the Zafira, Rachel Wells said the lorry was “two or three feet on the wrong side” of the road.

She said: “I remember thinking he is going to hit that car (the Audi), there is nowhere for him to go. I immediately pulled over as far as I could and tried to stop.

“I only then stopped my car when I felt something hit the back of my car.”

Mr Wilkins said in his opening: “Mr Burgess would have been travelling at about 38 mph. Mr Burgess also then brakes, however he came off his motorcyclist falling to his offside side.”

Eyewitness Liam Creighton told the court that Mr Burgess “slammed on his brakes”, adding: “I saw him collide into the wheels of the trailer”.

Images were shown of the damage where Mr Burgess’ helmet came into contact with the wheels of Todor’s lorry and were told of the damage caused to the Zafria after the motorcycle collided with it.

Following the collision Todor, of Andrew Crescent, Waterlooville, spoke to witnesses at the scene, but he deemed that he was not involved and drove off, without giving his information.

Mr Creighton said: “I said to him ‘you’ve had an accident, you’ve got to pull over’. The bloke just walked up the side of the lorry, didn’t go no more than halfway up the trailer and just said ‘no, no’.”

He was later traced using Go Pro footage from another motorcyclist and was arrested that evening.

It was discovered that Todor had been on a telephone call for 46 minutes, which Mr Wilkins said was “an avoidable distraction”.

But Todor said in a police interview: “I wasn’t using my phone while driving, I have Bluetooth by way of an earpiece. I was on many phone calls while driving – it would have been hands free.”

The trial continues.