A LORRY driver who crashed into a car, killing three Anglican vicars, said he did not even have time to apply the brakes, a court heard.

The three vicars were killed instantly when the 38-tonne lorry smashed into the back of the Rover 414 in which they were travelling.

The court heard that driver Mark King, 41, had not seen the traffic in front of him until it was too late.

The Reverend William Taylor, 39, the Reverend Catherine Hooper, 40, and the Reverend Michael Haugh, 50, were killed instantly when their car was crushed by Mr King's Scania lorry.

In 1991, Mr King had been fined £100 and given six points on his driving licence after admitting careless driving.

In a police statement, MrKing said: "I realised too late I wasn't going to stop in time."

He said he had been looking at the dashboard tachograph and when he looked up the cars were in front of him.

He said: "It did not seem for long but could have been for longer than I realised, I wasn't looking as far ahead as perhaps I should have been."

In the statement, Mr King, who had been transporting beer bottles from Dunbar to Ipswich, said: "It was that close when I noticed I didn't even have time to put the brake on."

The vicars, from parishes in Gateshead, had been enjoying an afternoon's walking along the Northumberland coast in May last year.

Their car stopped at roadworks on the A1 Felton bypass in Northumberland, controlled by traffic lights.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that for at least 40 seconds, in perfectly clear conditions on a straight stretch of road, Mr King, of Haughley, near Stowmarket, Suffolk, did nothing to avoid a "catastrophic" collision.

Tachograph readings from his lorry showed the impact happened while it was travelling at 43mph, smashing the vicars' car and crushing one in front of it.

Mr King denies three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

The trial continues.