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Motorist tells Southampton Crown Court of ‘frantic’ attempts to stop lorry driver Slawomir Kotlowski prior to unsecured lorry shedding its load in Lyndhurst




A motorist frantically tried to alert a lorry driver of an unsecured load before it toppled off, seriously injuring a pedestrian, a court heard.

Slawomir Kotlowski (41), of Collenswood Road, Stevenage, denies responsibility for the incident which happened on 31st October 2022.

As reported in the A&T, emergency services raced to the site of the accident on the A35, near the former Lyndhurst Park Hotel site.

The pedestrian, 23-year-old Chloe Evans from Totton, was taken to Southampton General Hospital in a critical condition.

Kotlowski denies the charges
Kotlowski denies the charges

Kotlowski is charged with causing serious injury by careless driving. Opening the case against him at Southampton Crown Court today (Friday), prosecutor Matthew Lawson said Kotlowski, employed by Myers Transport, had collected a load from Purfleet docks that morning and was headed to New Milton.

The load, comprising pallets and building blocks, was travelling between Ashurst and Lyndhurst at around midday when motorist Robert Dilworth, who was behind Kotlowski, spotted that ratchet straps securing the load were loose.

Mr Lawson told the court Mr Dilworth and his passenger could see the blocks were likely to fall and create a “dangerous” situation, which prompted him to try to overtake and slow the lorry down.

He also flashed his headlights and sounded his horn repeatedly.

Mr Lawson said he tried to get Kotlowski’s attention “at every opportunity” but due to the movement of the blocks and oncoming traffic, he was forced to back off.

“As the lorry hit a dip in the road, the blocks fell onto the pedestrian, causing serious injuries as a result.”

Giving evidence, Mr Dilworth said he noticed the blocks appeared to move as he passed the New Forest pub in Ashurst and he said to his passenger: “That looks really unsafe.”

When he noticed one of the straps securing the load come loose, he told the court that he said: “We’ve got to stop that lorry at all costs, someone is going to get killed in Lyndhurst.”

“I pulled out, tried getting down the side of the lorry. I’m tooting the horn, flashing my lights. We were frantic”.

There had been no response from Kotlowski, the court heard.

He was “panicking” and noticed the blocks moving, which prompted his passenger to tell him to back off so they were not in danger, adding: “We did the best we could do”.

The scene of the accident in 2022
The scene of the accident in 2022

Approaching Lyndhurst, as Kotlowski passed a traffic island there was a “dip” in the road, he said, resulting in the blocks hitting into each other.

Mr Dilworth said he thought one pallet was about to hit an oncoming car but they righted themselves, causing him to say to his passenger: “They don’t know how lucky they are”.

Shortly after, the blocks fell from the left-hand side, hitting Ms Evans.

Holding back tears, he said: “I jumped out and started to pull the blocks off the girl.

“I said [to Kotlowski] ‘Didn’t you see me? I’ve been trying to stop you for the last two miles’. I was in shock.”

Police and the emergency services were called to the scene where Kotlowski tested negative for alcohol and drugs.

The court heard analysis of the defendant’s mobile phone revealed a 33-minute call to a colleague prior to the accident, which had been made using his hands-free Bluetooth device.

In interview he told officers he was an “experienced” driver and had made “proper” checks on the load, which included him checking the straps visually when he had stopped at Winchester services earlier that morning.

He had not see Mr Dilworth and was unaware of the attempts to signal him, but added he had not been distracted and was “focused” on driving.

Mr Lawson said the issue with the load had “arisen from errors made in the Netherlands when it was secured to trailer”.

He added: “It was those errors, made by someone else, which made the strap coming loose.

“It is not something [Kotlowski] could have known about in advance.

“In the course of his journey, once the strap had became loose he was repeatedly given warnings by another driver, that he either did not see or chose to ignore.

“It is that failure to see and react that the Crown say is the careless driving which caused the accident. He should have stopped to see what was wrong and, had he done so, the injuries to Ms Evans would never have occurred.”

The trial continues.



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