Mayor was dazzled by tractor lights before crash.

An inquest has found that the mayor of Newcastle-under-Lyme died after being "blinded" by tractor headlights moments before a crash. 75 year old Barry Panter, died two days after the crash in February last year when his 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".

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.