Optometrist warned motorist before fatal collision

An optometrist giving evidence in a case in which a 75-year-old woman killed a young motorcyclist told the court that he had warned her about the consequences of not wearing her glasses after she was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes.

His patient, Eileen Baker of Danby Drive, Cannock, told the hearing at Stafford Crown Court that she had not been wearing her glasses when she was involved in an accident with 22-year-old motorcyclist Paul Mackintosh who collided with her car as she was pulling out of a side road.

The court heard that Baker had been a patient of optometrist David Stidwell for nearly 40 years and in that time he had witnessed her vision gradually deteriorating.