An 82-year-old driver has denied mistaking her accelerator for the brake in a crash that killed a pedestrian in Leyland, Lancashire, in 2014. Ann Diggles was attempting to park her Nissan Qashqai when it struck Julie Dean, 53, who had just stepped out of a charity shop.
Diggles, a retired nurse, told Preston Crown Court that there is a significant gap between the pedals and no way of confusing them. She claims a vehicle fault caused the car to surge forward, describing how she lifted her foot off the accelerator and applied the brake, but the car continued.
Prosecutor Richard Archer argued that Diggles mistakenly pressed the accelerator instead of the brake, but she insisted she would have admitted such an error if she believed she had made it. Her defence lawyers contend that an undercharged battery caused a malfunction in the automatic car's electronic throttle, leading to an 'uncommanded acceleration'.
The trial continues.
