HGV driver ‘should have seen Hartsilver in mirrors’ before fatal collision

A court has been told that the lorry driver involved in the collision with cyclist Esther Hartsilver should have seen her in his mirrors. Hartsilver was hit and killed at the junction of Denmark Hill and Orpheus Street in Camberwell, south London in May 2015.

The incident took place at 7.58am on Thursday May 28 with the senior physiotherapist taken by London Ambulance Service to her place of work, Kings College hospital, where she died that evening.

Co-op delivery driver Philip Beadle, 47, from Colchester, denies causing death by careless driving.

Beadle told police officers he had checked his mirrors but did not see Hartsilver, yet according to the London Evening Standard, prosecutor Benedict Kelleher told Blackfriars Crown Court that Beadle had about six seconds to spot her in his wing mirror before he turned left off Denmark Hill into Orpheus Street.

“For whatever reason in these moments, Mr Beadle’s driving was careless. He could and should have seen Ms Hartsilver in his mirrors.”

CCTV showed Hartsilver cycle towards Beadle’s lorry as he waited at a pedestrian crossing. Kelleher said that as he set off, he almost immediately began to indicate left, while Hartsilver had pulled up alongside in the adjacent bus lane.

“Ms Hartsilver would have been in the view of the driver, had he looked in the mirrors in those seconds when he began to move forward from the crossing and began to turn.

“That period of time is around six seconds. He turned his lorry left in a manoeuvre which was a legitimate turn from the main road into a side street.

"As he did, Ms Hartsilver’s bicycle came up just to the front side of his lorry, she was caught on the wheel and went under.”

The trial continues.