A TURBO instrument gauge bought at Halfords obscured a driver’s view and led to the death of a pedestrian, a court has heard.

Tomas Pittaway, is accused of causing the death of Peter Worrall, 49, who died after the collision in Bournemouth on December 13, in 2015.

He is also charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving with regard to Mr Worrall’s wife Julie.

Mrs Worrall, who suffered a fractured skull, a bleed on her brain and a broken pelvis, gave evidence in court on the opening day of the trial yesterday.

She recalled walking hand-in-hand with her husband, around 7.30pm, before crossing Castle Lane East, but then only remembers coming around while crumpled on the road.

Her husband was knocked onto the bonnet of the car, into the window and carried along for a distance on the vehicle’s roof.

The prosecution says the pillar gauge pod, which was fitted to the A-pillar of Pittaway’s Volvo car, obstructed the driver’s view and led him to collide with Mr and Mrs Worrall as they crossed the road.

However, the defence argues this was not the case - and that subsequent examinations by specially-trained collision investigators were flawed.

Malcolm Gibney, defending, argued the police crash investigation did not properly take into account the instrument had been moved post-collision, and that it was impossible to accurately say the exact moment the couple had stepped into the road and how long his client would have had to react.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard that excessive speed was not a factor in the accident, and subsequent investigations showed Pittaway did not drive through any red lights.

Stuart Ellacott, prosecuting, told the jury the crown’s case was essentially that Pittaway’s car had a modification on it that obscured his view and made it dangerous to drive.

“The crown says he (Pittaway) fitted this device and it clearly obstructs his view, particularly at night,” said Mr Ellacott. “That is why he failed to see Mr and Mrs Worrall crossing two lanes in front of him.”

The fact the Volvo also had some of its windows tinted did not play any part in the collision, crash investigators said.

Earlier the court heard how the couple had been walking back to their Chaseside home, just before 7.30pm, after spending a late afternoon at their local bar, The Village Hotel Club, Deansleigh Road.

Mrs Worrall told the court she’d drunk two-and-a-half pints of Stella Artois lager, while her husband had consumed four pints of either Carlsberg or Carling lager.

The instrument plinth included three dials, but only two were connected and illuminated. The top dial was a vacuum pressure gauge for the Volvo’s turbo, the next one down was a voltmeter that related to the batteries powering an enhanced sound system in the car’s boot.The court heard Pittaway and his female passenger stopped straight after the incident, and were both visibly shocked.

The trial continues.