HGV training to be changed after Attleborough man killed by lorry

Dudley Howe stepped out on to Station Road. Attleborough, after visiting his doctor's surgery

Training for HGV drivers will be changed after a pedestrian was hit and killed while standing in a driver's blind spot.

Dudley Howe, 82, walked in front of a stationary lorry in queuing traffic in Attleborough, Norfolk, and was killed when it pulled forward.

A trial heard the lorry's mirrors had not been adjusted properly.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) said it would add questions to the theory test for large vehicles.

The agency acted after Norfolk Coroner Jacqueline Lake filed a report warning of a risk of further deaths if action was not taken.

She raised the matter of the use and positioning of mirrors that show the area immediately in front of the lorry.

In response, DVSA chief executive Gareth Llewellyn said changes to the theory test would be effective from autumn this year.

In a letter, Mr Llewellyn added that lorry drivers must complete 35 hours of periodic training every five years to maintain their driver certificate of professional competence (DCPC), which "typically highlight the blind spots around a lorry's cab".

He said the body would also highlight the need for drivers to make sure mirrors were properly adjusted on each journey as part of a social media campaign within six months.

Mr Howe had been walking home using a wheeled walker after a flu jab on 6 October 2017 when he stepped into stationary traffic on Station Road.

Dashcam footage showed that when the lorry crept slowly forward, it knocked him over and under the vehicle, killing him instantly.

Driver Simon Rayner was cleared of causing death by careless driving, but a jury heard he would have seen Mr Howe had the lorry's mirrors been correctly adjusted.