Mayor died after "blinded by tractor headlights"

The mayor of Newcastle-under-Lyme died after being "blinded" by tractor headlights moments before a crash, an inquest has found.

Barry Panter, 75, died two days after the crash on 13 February 2025.

Panter's car hit a muckspreader towed by the farm vehicle on the A525 near Woore in Shropshire as he drove to a parish council meeting, leaving him with "acute trauma and multiple injuries".

Shropshire coroner Heath Westerman concluded that Panter's cause of death was a road traffic collision.

Westerman told the inquest that as Panter drove westbound along the A525 Newcastle Road, he was "met by and blinded by a tractor towing a muckspreader".

The driver of the tractor Christopher Bedson told police he "felt a bump" but did not realise the collision had happened until he found a puncture when coming to rest at a farm. He then returned to the scene of the incident.

Det Const Ben Ward told the hearing that the muckspreader was about six inches wider than the tractor, and encroached slightly on to the opposite side of the road.

Forensic collision investigators were not initially called to the scene until after Panter's death, as his injuries did not appear to be serious at first, the proceedings heard.

A witness Kerry Lovatt who came across the crash site moments after the incident stated that Mr Panter was injured in his car, and repeating the words "bright light".

She had previously passed the tractor, and said she noticed "very bright headlights" on the vehicle.

Bedson told police that while the tractor had spotlights - also known as "work lights" for use in fields - they were switched off while travelling on public roads.

The tractor was travelling at 18mph, and had four cars pass without issue, Bedson's statement added.

Sarah Fraser-Smith, a forensic collision investigator, told the inquest that the collision was "almost unavoidable".

Panter would have been "unaware" of the muckspreader behind the tractor "until it was upon him", she added.

Fraser-Smith noted that the headlights, and dark conditions, would have made it "a challenge" to see the wider vehicle behind the tractor, although it was "clearly a large articulated vehicle".

Panter, she concluded, was "almost certainly dazzled".

Six members of the Panter family were in attendance at the inquest.

Panter's daughter Kate Griffiths paid tribute to her father in a statement read out by the coroner.

He joined the RAF aged 19, spent 23 years serving in South Wales Police, and later studied History and Politics via Open University courses.

After spending five years on Madeley Parish Council, he was elected to Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council in 2016 and became mayor in 2024.

Griffiths described her father as someone who "loved Fleetwood Mac and the Rolling Stones", with hobbies including "collecting model police cars and reading, especially Charles Dickens".

At the time of his death, Panter received widespread tributes from local politicians, with the flag of the borough council building flown at half mast. He had chaired a full council meeting the day before the crash.

A charity ball was held in March that year at Keele Hall, with proceeds going towards Headway North Staffordshire and the Salvation Army in Chesterton, which were Panter's chosen charities for his time as mayor.

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