A witness broke down as she described in court events leading to pensioner cyclist John Radford being left in the road with head injuries and suffering catastrophic brain damage.

Nicolle Morgan was given a few minutes break to compose herself at Leeds Crown Court today after she told the jury she saw a car “like steer towards him.”

Michael Gledhill, 23 of Bramble Bank, Holmfirth denies causing serious injury to Mr Radford by dangerous driving on Huddersfield Road on July 31 last year.

The prosecution claim the driver and cyclist exchanged words after Gledhill beeped at him when trying to overtake Mr Radford.

Miss Morgan told the jury she had just had a shower and was in the bedroom of her home on Huddersfield Road when “something caught my eye outside.”

“I could see some kind of altercation was going on.” She moved closer to her window and saw it involved a cyclist and a car. “There was definitely raised voices but I couldn’t tell you what they were saying to each other.”

She said the cyclist was next to the driver’s side of the car, she could not tell if they were moving but the cyclist was not pedalling and because she thought something was going to happen she decided to video it on her phone.

But when she tried to record events the memory was full.  She began to delete some photographs to make space. The next thing she saw was the cyclist pedalling off towards the middle of the road she assumed to go round the car.

“I saw the car like steer towards him,” she said before breaking down. When she resumed her evidence she said: “The car veered towards that way as well and kind of followed where he was going basically.”

She said the car moved off quickly but “not at speed”. She told the jury: “I can’t say for certain whether the car actually hit any part of the bike to make it fall.”

Miss Morgan said the car was at an angle behind the bike. She said after she saw the cyclist go down the car stopped and a man got out the passenger door, that was Gledhill’s father.

The car then drove off and she realised later had parked further up the road. It was only then she was able to take a photo on her phone.

By the time she got dressed and went down to the road the driver was attending to the cyclist.

A woman asked him what had happened and if he had hit the cyclist and he replied: “No I didn’t touch him.” She remembered the lady looked puzzled at that and he then said: “I might have clipped him or scraped him, something along those lines.”

Under cross-examination by Nick Johnson defending Gledhill she said she could not tell if the cyclist could have been free-wheeling beside the car as words were exchanged.

She disagreed with his suggestion that when she first saw the car and cyclist to begin with they were already in the centre of the road with the car already “straddling the white line”.

“You didn’t actually see or hear the bike and car collide did you,” he asked. “No I didn’t” she replied.

She agreed she might have been partly distracted by trying to get the video working on her phone but denied she was mistaken in what she saw. “I saw the car steer towards the bike.”

“To be clear,” said Mr Johnson “I’m suggesting this wasn’t a case of a car on his own side and deliberately driving across the white line targeting the bike, I’m suggesting they were already straddling the line and there was something more of an accident, do you disagree?”

Miss Morgan said: “I definitely saw him, well I didn’t see him turn the wheel, but the wheel would have to be turned for the car to be positioned as it was. I don’t think he meant to touch him that was if he did, I don’t think he wanted to hurt him, I think it was kind of I’m going to scare you, kind of thing.”

Motorist Andrew Hodgson said he was travelling in the opposite direction when he saw the car trying to overtake the cyclist who appeared to be a “bit further out than normal.”

The driver beeped his horn and the cyclist appeared angry and as he passed them he could hear raised voices.

He watched in his mirror and saw them move towards his side of the road, the cyclist fall, the car’s reverse lights come on and then it drove on.

He stopped and ran to get the car number thinking it was going to be a hit and run but the driver parked down the road and returned.

Mr Johnson asked in cross- examination if he gained the impression as the cyclist rode on he was trying to prevent the driver passing.

“I just thought the argument had continued to the right side, like a bit of cat and mouse kind of thing,” he said.

Earlier the jury heard a statement read from Mr Radford’s daughter Emma Boyes describing his passion for cycling since the age of 15 which had continued after his retirement.

Emma Boyes and her injured dad John Radford, now in a rehab centre in York
Emma Boyes and her injured dad John Radford, now in a rehab centre in York

He thought nothing of cycling up to 80 miles and on the day concerned at been with other members of the Autumn Tint club. He had never worn a helmet believing it prevented him hearing and had his own workshop in his garage to make sure his bikes were in top condition.

The trial continues.