A DRIVER transporting chickens to a slaughterhouse was attempting to carry out a dangerous manoeuvre when he was involved in a fatal collision, a court has been told.

The trial of lorry driver Trevor Arnold Wooley, who denies causing death by dangerous driving after a crash on the A1, in North Yorkshire, began yesterday.

Mr Wooley was arrested after the crash on a stretch of dual carriageway last year.

He was taking thousands of chickens to a slaughterhouse from a farm in Bedale when his Scania articulated lorry was involved in a collision with a white Ford Transit.

Christopher Carter, the van’s 43-year-old driver, died from his injuries, Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday.

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, said Mr Wooley was crossing the A1 northbound lane to turn south from Lord’s Lane, near Hackforth, when the crash happened.

Mr Dodds said Mr Carter, who was driving from his home in Doncaster to work in Scotland, crashed into the back of Mr Wooley’s lorry as it crossed to the central reservation.

“This collision was caused by the defendant attempting to carry out a dangerous manoeuvre on a busy road, leaving Mr Carter little or no chance of avoiding it,” he said.

“Two-and-a-half miles further north, there is a major junction at which the defendant could have crossed the A1 using the bridge, and safely entered the southbound carriageway.”

The crash happened at 5.50am on Monday, November 26.

Mr Wooley, of Sturton-by- Stow, Lincolnshire, later told police that he had pulled into the central reservation as he was crossing the road, and felt a bang to the rear offside wheel of his trailer.

“The defendant had been to a farm to collect thousands of chickens that were due for slaughter,” said Mr Dodds.

“He knew the area, but had not been to this farm before.

“His trailer was about 3ft into the northbound carriageway.

“He believed the van hit his rear wheels, which at the time were in the central reservation.

That is disputed.

“It was possible to position the vehicle in the central reservation with neither front or back of the vehicle jutting out into the carriageway.

“Paramedics tried to save Mr Carter’s life, but were unsuccessful.

This is a tragic case.”

The court heard that Mr Wooley was asked by a witness how the crash happened, to which he said: “I looked, and it [the road] was clear when I set off.”

The trial continues.