Teacher 'upset' at 120mph claim

Mr Davies does not accept he was driving dangerously Head's '120mph danger crash'

A head teacher has told a court he "refuted" claims he had been travelling at 120mph shortly before a crash which left another driver in a wheelchair.

Paul Davies, 51, from Hirwaun, told Merthyr Crown Court the claim regarding his speed had "angered and upset him".

In May 2006, he hit a Ford Fiesta head on, which left driver Kelvin Palmer in hospital for 10 months.

Mr Davies, head at Cwmdare primary school, denies dangerous driving on the A465 Heads of the Valleys road.

On Wednesday, he told the jury how he "refuted" earlier claims by a witness he had been travelling at 120mph as he overtook a car moments before the collision.

"It angers and upsets me. I have never travelled at that speed," he said.

Mr Palmer told the court he had been trapped upside down in his car

"The assessment of my speed upsets me and I absolutely refute it."

He told the court how he was driving at 60mph and blamed large amounts of rainwater on the carriageway for the reason he lost control of the car.

His barrister Bernard Powell asked Mr Davies why he had gone to the scene of the accident a few months later to take his own photographs of the accident.

"Feeling very remorseful about the incident, it was something I had to do, to come to terms with losing control of the car," he said.

Mr Davies, who has been driving for 35 years, told the court how he had no recollection of the accident itself.

He denied he was driving dangerously that day.

The weather conditions were bad that day and I was unable to control the car Paul Davies

"I certainly was not - I was driving well within my capabilities and with consideration for the weather, but the severity of it caught me out at the scene of the accident," he said.

"I refute the allegations I was driving dangerously."

He told the court how he had never driven at more than 80mph in his two-litre Subaru Impreza STI.

"I understand the choice of my car is on trial just as much as I am. I have a passion for cars."

Asked by the prosecution if he was "driving very fast that day" he replied: "That's not true".

"I caused the accident yes, but I don't accept I was driving dangerously."

"I was within the speed limit, the weather conditions were bad that day and I was unable to control the car," he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the prosecution told the court that Mr Davies' car had caused the front of Mr Palmer's vehicle to "disintegrate" in the crash.

Student nurse Emma Able told the jury that she thought Mr Davies had been travelling at "100 to 120 miles an hour".

And Mr Palmer broke down crying as he described to the jury how he found himself trapped upside down in the car "in tremendous pain" following the incident.

The trial continues.