THE heartbroken father of 11-year-old Daniel Climance said he believed something frightened his son moments before his fatal collision with a road sweeper, an inquest heard yesterday.

Bridlewood Primary pupil Daniel died on the evening of June 10 after colliding with a road sweeper driven by Stuart Robertson in Station Road, Purton.

Daniel was cycling with his older brother and father at the time of the crash and was following them through a gap between parked cars and the road sweeper.

Stuart Climance, who attended with Daniel’s mother Helen Lucas, said his son was a proficient bike rider who had become uncharacteristically unsteady as the road sweeper approached.

“I don’t think all of the blame for this accident should rest on Daniel. I believe something scared Daniel and that caused him to wobble. He was a very confident rider and had just passed his cycling proficiency. I think he was frightened,” he said.

Mr Climance spoke after hearing the evidence of driver Steven Brankin who witnessed the collision when he pulled over to take a phone call. He said he saw Daniel go “into a panic” just before the collision.

“I saw the father, the older boy and the littlest one a little further behind cycling through a gap between parked cars on one side and the road sweeper approaching,” he said.

“The gap was wide enough for all of them to get through. The littlest one came through a little way behind them and started wobbling about and his wheel was turning into the path of the road sweeper. It looked like he went into a panic.

“I started to say ‘you lucky’ because I thought he had got away with it. Then it happened.

“His front wheel went under the front wheel of the road sweeper and he shot up the side of it. It all happened so fast.

“I jumped out immediately. The boy was led up against the car in front, on the ground. I took one look, that was it, and I knew he was dead.”

A post-mortem found Daniel died from a traumatic head injury.

The court heard how driver Robertson had estimated he was travelling at between 25 and 28mph when the collision happened.

The driver passed a breathalyser test with police examination of the vehicle finding no defects with the road sweeper.

Police constable Scott Hill conducted an investigation and forensic reconstruction of the events. He said in his opinion the road sweeper was travelling at a legal speed at the time of the collision.

“There is no evidence to suggest that Mr Robertson was driving in an unsafe manner,” he said,

During questioning of PC Hill, Stuart Climance said he believed Robertson’s driving had scared Daniel.

“It’s my belief that he was driving in an unsafe manner, he was driving aggressively without care and attention to oncoming cyclists and this caused Daniel to react in the way he did,” he said.

“I don’t want anything like this to happen again to any other families. This road needs to be made safe for all road users.”

Ian Singleton, assistant coroner for Swindon and Wiltshire said he did not believe there was sufficient evidence to point towards “excessive speed or careless driving” by Robertson

“We will never be able to know if Daniel was frightened by the road sweeper and that caused him to wobble. Mr Robertson said he saw the cyclists and took his foot off the accelerator which caused the brake to activate.

“Witnesses have said they did not think he was driving at excessive speed even if they do not know how fast he was driving. I do not see evidence to suggest he was.

“I find that Daniel’s front wheel began to wobble and went under the mudguard of the road sweeper. This caused him to be propelled upwards into the side of the vehicle causing the traumatic head injury. On the balance of probabilities I must return a conclusion of accidental death.”