Labour Peer killed on his mobility scooter

A lorry driver who struck and killed an 87-year-old Labour peer in  his mobility scooter after failing to stop at a give-way sign is facing jail.

Kul Pandey, 56, collided with Lord Thomas Taylor of Blackburn on  at a road crossing on Millbank on November 16 last year.

Lord Taylor was hit by Pandey’s Mercedes Actros Truck on a road crossing just yards away from the House of Lords at around 6pm.

The Lancashire peer was rushed to hospital with serious injuries and died nine days later.

Pandey today (tues) admitted causing Lord Taylor’s death by careless driving.

Michael Rawlinson, defending Pandey, told the Old Bailey the carelessness amounted to ‘failing to stop at a give-way sign’.

Had he done so, he may have spotted the peer, he added.

‘When he started the vehicle, I think the reality is he did not see Lord Taylor, whether that was because he already checked his mirror and missed him or, as the prosecution say, he should have taken more care,’ said Mr Rawlinson.

Pandey, who is from Nepal but holds a British passport, has lost his job as a result of the collision and was warned he now faces an almost inevitable prison term.

‘Mr Pandey, you have pleaded guilty to an offence which I am sure you know is very serious,’ said Judge Anuja Dhir QC.

‘The sentence that courts impose on offences like this is prison, and you must assume that that will be the sentence that I will pass.

‘I am not going to sentence you today and that is because I want to hear more about you and more about the facts of the case before deciding what is the appropriate sentence here.’

Prosecutor Aislinn Rice said: ‘Lord Thomas Taylor of Blackburn was leaving the House of Lords, he was travelling on his mobility scooter and he was going to Millbank.

‘He attempted to cross the road and sadly that is when this happened.

‘The defendant is in his lorry and was initially stationery as Lord Taylor was crossing but he did not go fully across and then the collision occurred.

‘Unfortunately Lord Taylor later passed away.’

Reading aloud from her notes today (tues) Judge Dhir said: ‘The defendant pleads guilty. No basis of plea, but the carelessness is the defendant failing to stop at a give-way sign.

‘If he had, Lord Taylor may have been noticed by him.

‘When he started the vehicle he did not see Lord Taylor.

‘The prosecution say he should have taken more care.’

Lord Taylor, who was made a life peer in 1978, was leader of Blackburn Town Council in the 1970s.

Speaking after his death Lady Smith of Basildon, Labour’s leader in the Lords, said: ‘Tom Taylor had a life-long commitment to the Labour Party, through both local government and Parliament, and was held in high regard and with great affection by his party colleagues.

‘Tom was a committed member of the House of Lords right through to the tragic circumstances which led to his death.

‘We in the Labour peers group are very sad and will miss him dearly.’

In 2009 he was one of four peers suspended from the House of Lords after entering into negotiations, involving fees of up to £120,000, with Sunday Times reporters posing as lobbyists for a foreign firm.

Pandey, of Bendfont Lane, Feltham, Middlesex, admitted a single count of causing death by careless driving.

He was bailed ahead of sentence at the same court on 9 April.
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