A NORTH Pembrokeshire farmer has appeared in court accused of failing to stop his tractor after an accident with a cyclist on a narrow lane during the Tour of Pembrokeshire.

Haydn Williams, of Pontfaen, appeared before Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Thursday, January 3, accused of failing to stop his tractor after a road accident.

Williams previously pleaded not guilty to the charge, as well as two others: failing to report the accident to police and driving the vehicle without due care and attention.

Phillip Withers, the 64-year-old cyclist involved in the accident, told the court he was riding along the Wolfscastle to Tufton road on May 19 at the tail end of a group of approximately 20 others.

“The road was very narrow and the hedges on the side were very steep, very close to the edge of the road,” he said.

Mr Withers said he slowed down, following the lead of the cyclists ahead of him as there was a tractor in the road ahead.

 

A stretch of the Wolfscastle to Tufton road, where an accident between a tractor and a cyclist happened during the Tour of Pembrokeshire. PICTURE: Google Maps.

Other cyclists managed to filter through a small gap on the left hand side of the road, but Mr Withers said the tractor kept advancing, and he was unable to turn around in time.

Instead he leaned into the hedge, and said he could hear the driver of the tractor, Haydn Williams, shouting “get back!” from the cab.

Mr Withers said the implement behind the tractor, a hay rake, was wider than the vehicle itself and pinned his leg against his bike causing him injury before it drove away.

Defending, Lucie Stoker questioned the layout of the lane which Mr Withers and the other cyclists had been travelling up.

She said Williams remembered getting out of the vehicle and shouted to the the cyclists to move back toward a layby further down the road.

She explained her client was unable to reverse backward as another farm vehicle and a 4x4 were occupying a layby or farm entrance behind the tractor.

The court also heard from two other cyclists and from PC Simon Butler, who described how he visited Williams after the incident to take a statement, finding him in a nearby field working in the tractor.

The trial will continue on Thursday, February 7 at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court.