A DELIVERY driver who ran over a hairdresser as she crossed a road, killing her almost instantly, ‘just did not look properly’, a jury was told today.

Mark Hale, 42, of Harvest Bank, Carterton, has denied causing Anna Rys’s death by careless driving in Cheltenham on Tuesday, April 11 last year.

As his trial continued at Gloucester Crown Court today, the court heard she was crossing Crescent Place when Mr Hale’s long wheelbase Citroen Relay van hit her, knocked her to the ground and then ran over her with his front and rear wheels.

Prosecutor Robin Shellard said Mr Hale had made a delivery just past the junction of Clarence Street and Crescent Place at about 9.30am that morning.

He told the jury: "If he had continued along the one-way street it would lengthen his day, if he turned right he would avoid that."

The court heard that Mr Hale reversed against the direction of traffic ‘a few metres’ to allow him to turn right into Crescent Place.

Miss Rys had reached the junction and began to cross the road as Mr Hale turned his van onto Crescent Place.

She was on her ‘fifth or sixth stride’ into the road, Mr Shellard said, when the front offside of Mr Hale’s van hit her.

“After colliding with her twice he does not realise what he has done,” Mr Shellard said.

The van travelled a further 15 metres before it came to a stop.

“We say he should have had seen her,” the prosecutor told the jury.

Mr Shellard said there were ‘many reasons’ he might not have, including ‘a mobile telephone holder fixed to his windscreen’ and the A frame blind spots.

"But really," the prosecutor said, "he just did not look properly."

Mr Shellard suggested if Mr Hale had stopped before moving forward: "She would have taken the extra step and avoided him completely.

"He turned without checking either left or right."

After the collision Mr Hale was heard to say ‘She came out of nowhere’, Mr Shellard claimed.

"We say she did not not,” the prosecutor said. “She came from a pavement where pedestrians come from: he should have taken extra care. It was that failure that caused the death of Anna Rys."

The jury heard from an eye witness, Esme Wharton, a student who was walking a few metres behind her.

“The front of the van struck the lady. It carried on for about a metre,” Miss Wharton said. She described the turn of the van as ‘quite rapid.’

“When I first looked up it was not clear where it was going to go. When I saw it indicate I knew where it was going to go.”

The court heard from collision investigator PC William Gibson, who said Miss Rys, as the pedestrian, had priority in that situation as she was in the road before him.

He said: "The van should give priority to her."

Despite arguments about blind spots, PC Gibson said: “She should have been visible to him.

“He was not looking in the right direction. He was not looking where he was going.

“Simple as that. He wasn’t looking in the right place.”

The trial continues with Mr Hale still to give his evidence.