Friday 7 October 2022 04:04 PM Moment bus driver who hit and killed pensioner takes his eyes off the road to ... trends now
This is the moment a TfL bus driver looks away from the road to pick up a chocolate bar - and hits and kills a pensioner.
Garfield Balfour, 50, knocked over Arthur Gowrie, 88, in Southwark, as he rummaged around his cab for the treat, Inner London Crown Court heard.
Mr Gowrie, who had a walking stick and was dragging a shopping trolley, was trying to cross the road by weaving in and out of stationary traffic when he was hit by the No 35 bus.
He suffered a serious head injury after the accident on August 2, 2019, and died two days later.
Prosecutor Wayne Cranston-Morris said: 'Balfour had stopped the bus and grabbed a chocolate bar. But he then decided to start to drive the bus when he wasn’t looking ahead of him.’
Judge Nigel Peters said: ‘So it's chocolate, foot off the brake, tiny movement?’
Mr Cranston-Morris replied: ‘It’s not just foot off the brake, its foot on the accelerator.
This is the moment a TfL bus driver looks away from the road to pick up a chocolate bar - and hits and kills a pensioner
Garfield Balfour, 50, knocked over Arthur Gowrie, 88, in Southwark, as he rummaged for treat
Mr Gowrie, who had a walking stick and was dragging a shopping trolley, was trying to cross the road by weaving in and out of stationary traffic when he was hit by the No 35 (not pictured)
‘Before the deceased stepped onto the highway, he looked right he looked left, he did not just step onto the highway.'
CCTV shown in court showed Mr Gowrie approaching the road with his shopping bags and passing in front of the bus before being struck.
‘The defendant had no hands on the steering wheel and was not looking ahead,’ Mr Cranston-Morris said.
Ms Elizabeth Lambert, defending said: 'After he has picked up the chocolate bar the victim is in the blind spot so he could not have seen him.
'It is clear from the video that very tragically when the pedestrian
