A FIREFIGHTER is accused of causing a man's death after parking his engine on the wrong side of the road, before a motorist swerved and hit a pedestrian, a court heard.

Peter Newdeck, 48, was sitting behind the wheel with his headlights dipped in the darkness as colleagues tackled a fire.

Bristol Crown Court heard he turned his blue lights off to avoid "rubbernecking" drivers, despite being warned by a motorist it was dangerous.

As motorist Paul Holmes turned a corner in his Audi A3 he mistook the engine for an overtaking vehicle and swerved onto the verge where he collided with Stuart Frost, 43, killing him and seriously injuring his neighbour Christopher Eyre, 31.

Mr Frost died at the scene from multiple fractures of the skull, while Mr Eyre was taken to Frenchay Hospital, Bristol.

A court heard that Mr Holmes, 64, was not charged but Newdeck, a fireman for 26 years, is accused of causing the death of Mr Frost by the way he had parked.

The court was told how he had driven four colleagues to the incident in Rendcomb, on December 20, 2013.

For speed and convenience he parked the engine on the wrong side of the road, facing oncoming northbound traffic on the A435 between Cheltenham and Cirencester.

Raymond Tully, prosecuting, said: "He was manning the vehicle sitting at the steering wheel. Other drivers passed the scene driving in the opposite direction. The tender (vehicle) remained parked in the same position on the road.

"Sometime after arriving, Mr Newdeck, who had driven there with the blue lights activated, decided to deactivate the blue lights. He remained parked with his headlights on."

Mr Tully said that while many cars found it difficult to manoeuvre around him, Newdeck still failed to move or put out any equipment to warn oncoming cars.

Mr Holmes was driving to the cinema in Cheltenham with a woman passenger and came around the corner at about 45mph.

Mr Tully said: "As he came around the bend he struggled to make sense of what was going on in front of him. He could see headlights of a large vehicle on his side of the road that he thought was travelling towards him. He wondered what it was doing there, was it overtaking?

"He, as common with other drivers, didn't have a great deal of time to react. If you are travelling at 45mph it is estimated you had nine seconds to react.

"He took evasive actions. He swerved left, mounting the verge between the hedgerow and the fire tender. Unfortunately, Stuart Frost and his neighbour were standing on the verge outside the properties. Mr Frost was killed. His neighbour, Christopher Eye, was seriously injured."

Mr Tully went on to explain how another motorist had pulled over after passing the truck to state that it was dangerous.

Jeremy Hughes told Tom Adams, a friend who was at the scene, about the danger, with Mr Adams relaying it to Newdeck.

He added: “Mr Newdeck received a specific warning about the position of the vehicle.

“He chose to ignore this. The warning originated from another driver on the road that evening. That driver was significantly concerned about the position of the truck.”

Summarising other drivers who had driven past the fire engine that evening, he said most described it as “dazzling” and they encountered “bright white lights”.

Describing Newdeck's reasoning for using only the headlights, Mr Tully said: “He said he turned off the blue lights because they distorted his view of the chimney.

“He left his dipped headlights on. He thought the blue lights were dazzling so it was a conscious decision to turn them off.

“He said, and excuse me paraphrasing, if I had my blue lights on – rubbernecking. The presence of the blue lights was encouraging rubbernecking.

“He didn't think his position was a difficulty for people on the verge. He thought there was no need to deploy the safety equipment.”

Newdeck, from Tewkesbury, denies one charge of causing death by careless driving.

The trial continues.