Air cadet Wayne Maynard died a "sitting duck" alongside two friends when a 38-ton lorry smashed into the rear of their stationary RAF coach.
Wayne, 18, of Brent Place, Barnet, and 15-year-olds Christopher Colmer, from Pinner, and Jason Adnitt, from Edmonton, took the full impact of the lorry.
The coach had stopped following a minor accident, effectively blocking the left hand lane of a busy dual carriageway, Peterborough Crown Court heard on Tuesday.
Nineteen other air cadets, including James Topping, 15, of Meadway, who spent months in hospital, were injured in the ensuing collision.
Members of 1374 (East Barnet) Squadron Air Training Corps (ATC), based in Gloucester Road, Barnet, had been on a summer camp when the tragedy occurred on the evening of August 21 last year.
Coach driver Jeannette Morris, 48, of Stamford, Lincolnshire, and lorry driver Simon Bland, 37, of Peterborough, are each charged with three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
Families of the dead air cadets were in court for the first day of the trial.
Mrs Morris, an experienced Ministry of Defence driver, wept as the jury heard how her coach was involved in a minor accident at a service area on the A1 near Thornaugh, Cambridegshire, while she ferried cadets back from an orienteering trip.
Yvonne Coen QC, prosecuting, said Mrs Morris stopped the coach on the inside lane of the A1 after the first accident. There was no hard shoulder.
"Mrs Morris knew the danger she had placed her passengers in. They were sitting ducks," she said.
Moments later another lorry, driven by Mr Bland, hit the back of the coach, killing the air cadets, who had been staying at nearby RAF Wittering.
"The accident happened because the coach was left by Mrs Morris in a dangerous position in the dark, on a bend," said Ms Coen.
"Mr Bland would have had a clear view of the coach for several seconds. Time enough to take evasive action by swerving or breaking. The plain fact is that Mr Bland could not have been keeping any proper lookout."
The jury, who watched a police video reconstruction of the accident, was due to visit the scene of the crash yesterday.
The case continues.
November 14, 2001 17:27
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