Amazon delivery driver 'killed biker on Yorkshire road while distracted by Snapchat messages and maps app'

Peter Rushforth, 56, from Ripon, died when his Suzuki bike was struck on a bend on Kirkby Road by Daniaal Iqbal's Ford Transit van in September 2019.

Iqbal, then 20, was working only his second shift for Amazon and had been delivering parcels in the Ripon area when the collision happened near Kirkby Malzeard.

Motorcycle enthusiast and engineer Mr Rushforth was heading to a friend's house but died at the scene when his bike struck a stone wall and he was thrown into a tree, from which he then fell from height.

The prosecution at Iqbal's trial at York Crown Court allege that the van was on the wrong side of the road when it hit Mr Rushforth, who was riding in the opposite direction, because Iqbal was distracted by his mobile phone, which was not in a hands-free holder.

They produced data suggesting that he had spent 32 seconds on the Snapchat messaging app as he approached the bend and had also keyed in the postcode of a petrol station he was driving to on a maps app to help him navigate.

However, Iqbal's defence said the driver, now 23, claimed he had sent Snapchat messages to his friend while the van was stationary and that their delivery had been delayed. He denies being on the wrong side of the road or using the device while moving.

Police forensic collision investigators allege that the Transit van was around 30cm into Mr Rushforth's lane as it negotiated the bend at 39mph on the 60mph road.

The court was also told that Mr Rushforth's postmortem revealed that he had amphetamines in his system which could have impaired his riding ability, but the prosecution said there was no evidence he had not been driving correctly.

Amazon's staff app, Flex, recorded the final parcel delivery before the accident as 6.18pm, the last time that the vehicle was stationary. At 6.23pm, the phone was shown as being connected to a charger or entertainment system, and at 6.24pm the search for the petrol station's location was entered. There was no record of the maps app being closed until after the collision.

Location data put the van as being in motion at 6.30pm, when the phone camera and Snapchat app were activated and a message was sent. Snapchat was not closed until after the impact.

The van was also fitted with a tracking device which recorded no braking prior to the collision.

Iqbal's defence counsel argued that it was necessary for her client to use navigation apps to do his job, and that Amazon did not provide a cradle for the phone. A colleague who had agreed to meet him at the Morrisons petrol station for him to be able to use her company fuel card said that drivers could be working three weeks before they received their first wage, and often had to buy fuel themselves during that time. She attended the scene and found Iqbal, whom she had never met before, 'in complete shock'.

Mr Rushforth's friend Graham Atkinson said he had known him since 1966, when Peter, his parents and two sisters first moved to Ripon to take over a post office branch. They met again in 2013 and he often visited Mr Rushforth's garage on North Road, where he kept his motorcycles. He described him as a 'quiet man' and had offered him the use of a lifting platform on the day he died.

The trial continues.