The driver of the refuse lorry that crushed an Oxford student cyclist broke down yesterday and cried at an inquest into the incident last April.
The deceased cyclist Tsz Fok, 22, was an outstanding third year engineer at Worcester College. He died of multiple injuries after being crushed under the wheels of the lorry at the junction of Broad Street and Parks Road on April 18, 2007.
He was cycling with Worcester law student Alicia Tew, to a dance class at her college. Ms Tew told the Oxford Mail that they were heading straight across the junction into Holywell Street. Mr Fok was level with the front of the lorry, on the inside, while the light ahead of them was red.
The lorry driver, Trevor Ashworth, 31, recalled the course of the fatal crash to the inquest at County Hall. He stopped his refuse lorry at traffic lights at the top of Broad Street. He had noticed “two, three, or four” cyclists on his passenger side.
As he turned left into Parks Road, he “felt a bump in the road, just like a pot hole.” “In the commotion I stopped and I saw what I had done.”
PC Steve Jenkins, a roads policing forensic investigator, acknowledged that Mr Fok had not been wearing any high-visibility clothing or a cycle helmet and said “the deceased’s actions played some part in his death.” However he believes Mr Ashworth should have been especially cautious ahead of the collision.
“He should have been aware of the dangers at this busy junction, taking extra care checking for pedestrians and cyclists as he commenced his left turn,” PC Jenkins added.
PC Jenkins also spoke of the possibility that Mr Ashworth’s phone records that morning showed several calls. But he said lack of evidence failed to prove that the driver had been using his phone during the accident.
Katherine Harris, a history of science student, who was between Mr Fok and Ms Tew said the deceased accelerated at the same time as the lorry driver when the lights switched to green.
“I was still and waiting just in horror. The next thing I knew the lorry completed his turn and Mr Fok was rolling in the street.”
Mr Ashworth will be tried at Wantage Magistrates’ Court next week, for driving without due care and attention.
