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A driver killed another motorist in a head-on collision while trying to switch on the heated steering wheel of her new £50,000 (NZ$103,356) SUV.
Lynn Worgan, 66, took her eyes off the road for up to five seconds while repeatedly tapping on the buttons to activate the device just yardsfrom her £900,000 (NZ$1.8 million) home in the Cheshire countryside.
Her electric Volvo XC40 Ultimate veered on to the wrong side of the country lane and strayed into the path of an oncoming Audi TT Quatro being driven by Christopher Allen, a rock musician.
The 47-year-old guitarist tried to take evasive action but was unable to avoid a crash.
He suffered multiple injuries including a traumatic head injury. He had to be cut out of his car and was airlifted to Royal Stoke Hospital where he died two days later.
The collision occurred at 8.50am on May 15, 2023 when Allen, who played with Indie rock group Green Bullet, was driving through the hamlet of Poole near Nantwich where Worgan lives with her husband.
Worgan, a director at a labelling company run by her husband David in Nantwich, said she had a ‘’momentary lapse of concentration’' in the moments before the crash.
Lesley Everall, Allen’s sister, condemned Worgan’s driving and said she had considered taking her own life over the accident.
She added: “This is the worst and most shocking and painful trauma I have had to endure in my life.”
Clare Oliver, prosecuting, said: “Mr Allen swerved away from Mrs Worgan’s car as he saw it approaching him but could not avoid a collision.
“That five-second distraction Mrs Worgan was engaging in when turning on the heated steering wheel quite clearly fits the description of her ‘engaging in a brief but avoidable distraction’.”
Musician Christopher Allen with his sister Lesley Everall. Photo / Facebook
Worgan’s defence counsel James Coutts said: “This is a desperately tragic case that has resulted in a devastating loss of life.”
Worgan admitted causing death by careless driving at Chester magistrates’ court.
She was handed a 26-week prison term suspended for 12 months and ordered to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work. She must also pay £239 in costs and a victim surcharge and was banned from driving for two years.
District Judge Jack McGarva said: “There is the suggestion that your eyes might have been off the road for five seconds but at 40mph you travel 60ft, so five seconds is a long time. You made a choice, you did not have to operate the heated steering wheel.”
He added: “Ultimately you have to live with what you have done and you have to live with what you have caused other people to feel.”
