POLICE officers did not carry out their duties properly in the moments before a fatal crash, a court has heard.

Michael Parker, 61, of Preston New Road, Mellor Brook, died almost instantly from head and chest injuries outside his home on November 11, last year.

The driver of the Vauxhall Astra that struck him, Sajaad Munawar, 27, of Deepdale Road, Preston, denies causing death by dangerous driving. The court had earlier heard that Munawar's car had mounted the pavement before hitting Mr Parker.

The jury was due to resume deliberations today after starting to consider their verdict yesterday afternoon.

Earlier, Munawar told the jury at Lancaster Crown Court that as he rounded the corner in Preston New Road, heading in the direction of Blackburn, he could see a recovery vehicle 300m up ahead, near to the petrol station.

The lorry was recovering a silver BMW that had crashed 40 to 50 minutes earlier at approximately 5.20am. Police had attended the scene but left when the recovery vehicle arrived.

Munawar said: "If the police had had blue flashing lights up ahead people could have stopped."

Munawar, who the court was told had been in the UK as a student since 2006, said that he took the yellow flashing light on the recovery vehicle to mean there was a problem up ahead, but not one that needed him to act urgently.

In his closing statement Richard Clews, defending, claimed that police officers had left the scene just because it was getting near to the end of their shift.

He said: "Had the police done their job properly in all probability this accident would not have happened." Under cross examination from Mark Lamberty, prosecuting, Munawar told the court that he decided to go down the left hand side to pass the lorry to avoid hitting any other cars.

He said: "I thought they would be at the rear, not on the left hand side, why else would I have gone down there?

"It was morning and the light wasn't good enough to see what was happening and I made the wrong assumption."