A lorry driver who crashed into a level crossing in the centre of Whitland has been cleared today of dangerous driving.

Graham Mason, aged 58, told police he had been distracted by two youths throwing a rugby ball across St John’s Street as he approached the crossing driving an empty milk lorry.

Mason, of Redcliff, Providence Hill, Narberth, also told police that amber warnings lights had not been flashing.

Mason, a professional lorry driver, was found not guilty on the direction of Judge Peter Heywood, who stopped the trial at the end of the prosecution case.

Huw Rees, prosecuting, had told the jury at Swansea crown court that the safety features at the crossing had been working normally. They included an audible warning sound, a steady amber light for three to five seconds and a flashing red light as the barriers came down.

Mason’s Scania lorry demolished part of the crossing.

Mason did not give evidence because of Judge Heywood’s decision to stop the trial before the defence case had begun.

But Judge Heywood told the jury that the identity of the youth alleged to have thrown the rugby ball was known but British Transport Police had not approached him for a statement.

And no-one, he added, had come forward to say they had seen the amber light illuminated.

And Judge Heywood criticised the BTP for not ensuring that a tachograph fitted to the lorry had been examined.

That, he said, would have recorded the speed of the lorry immediately before the impact and the manner of driving on the morning of January 22, 2012.

There had been, he said. “lamentable shortcomings” in the preparation of the prosecution case.

Judge Heywood told the jury that to convict Mason of dangerous driving they would have to be sure that his driving had fallen “far below” that expected of a careful and prudent driver.

But his driving record was impeccable and he had not been drinking, speeding or using a mobile telephone.