A truck driver accused of killing a 21-year-old model by careless driving told a court today that he fell asleep at the wheel.

But Clinton Smith, 41, said he was still on his side of the road when he woke up.

He claimed that the truck did not respond to steering input as he tried to avoid a collision with Sophie Fraser-Smith’s bike.

Mr Smith said: “I was coming up past Southampton Princess. The steering went loose a bit but caught. After that, I dozed off.”

He added: “I really don’t know what woke me up. But I know I was still on my side of the street coming around the corner past Heron Bay Primary School.

“I tried to pull hard on the truck because I knew I was going over and the truck didn’t respond.

“I saw Ms Smith coming but there was nothing I could do. It’s like she came out of nowhere.

“I don’t even think she saw the truck. But I saw her in the corner and she hit the offside and the steering went funny again.”

Mr Smith said he tried to get the truck back under control but hit a wall.

“I ran over to see the person who was on the bike who I now know was Ms Fraser-Smith because I wanted to make sure, to check she was OK. That’s all I kept asking.”

Mr Smith denies causing the death by careless driving of Ms Fraser-Smith on July 18 last year.

Glenn Woods, a former emergency medical technician, told the Supreme Court previously that he heard Mr Smith telling a bystander that “something locked up”.

But Mr Smith told the jury today that he said “the steering is f****d up”.

He added: “The first day that I drove the truck, I noticed a problem with the steering.”

Mr Smith said he started working at Dunkley’s Dairy in May 2017.

He said Kyle Dailey, sales manager, hired him and told him to let him know if he had any problems with the truck or how it was loaded.

Mr Smith said: “I spoke to Kyle almost every day because of the fact that, number one, I was having problems with the truck and I was also having a problem with the way the truck was packed.”

He added that the steering “was a regular problem that I complained about on more than one occasion.”

Mr Smith said: “Every now and then, during the afternoon when I would be on my way back, the steering would go loose.

“When I would come around corners, I would have to pull more in order to get the truck to respond.”

Mr Smith said he told Mr Dailey at the scene of the accident that he had experienced the “same steering issue that I was talking to him about”.

Mr Dailey and Paul Spring, beverage brand manager, earlier told the court that they could not remember Mr Smith complaining about a steering problem with his truck.

Two expert witnesses also told the court that they found no issue with the truck’s steering.

The trial continues.

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