AN 86-year-old woman has been cleared of causing the death of an 85-year-old mobility scooter rider by careless driving.

The jury at York Crown Court heard that Patrick O’Neill moved his vehicle onto the pedestrian crossing from the Imphal Barracks side of Fulford Road at its junction with Hospital Fields Road, York, when the red man was showing in his direction.

On the opposite side of Fulford Road, Mary Elizabeth Watson was waiting at a red traffic light at the head of a line of traffic heading into the city centre.

The driver in the queue immediately behind Mrs Watson, Barry Robson, said in a statement read to the jury that he saw Mr O’Neill and “I couldn’t understand why he was crossing”.

Mrs Watson told the jury that when the lights turned green in her favour, she moved forward having checked that the road ahead was clear.

Then she heard a bang as Mr O’Neill’s scooter hit the side of her Ford Fiesta.

She had not seen him until then.

Defence expert Steven Green said Mr O’Neill may have been in a blind spot formed by the A post of her car between the windscreen and the driver’s door, and so Mrs Watson would have been unable to see him.

If she had seen him, she would probably have had two seconds to notice him and take evasive action.

“A collision is now unavoidable,” he told the jury as he outlined the scenario.

Mrs Watson, 84 at the time and now 86, of Wighill Lane, Tadcaster had denied the charge. The jury acquitted her at the end of a four-day trial after less than an hour in retirement.

After the jury returned its verdict, the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, said: “There are no winners in a case like this. Everyone is a loser. It is very, very sad.”

The collision happened on June 5, 2019. Mr O’Neill suffered eight rib fractures in the collision and died in York Hospital on June 14, 2019. He had other serious medical conditions, but a forensic pathologist concluded that his injuries contributed to his death.

Mrs Watson is no longer driving.

On October 31, 2019, North Yorkshire Police referred her for a formal assessment of her driving ability.

The assessment took place on January 9, 2020. After reading the assessor’s report, the DVLA revoked her licence.

She disagreed with some of the assessor’s findings.

The prosecution applied for the jury to be told about the assessment, but Judge Morris ruled against telling the jury, on the grounds that the assessment was too long after the collision to indicate how she had driven in June.