A DRIVER has said he did not know what speed he was travelling at when his car hit a barrier in an A64 crash which led to the deaths of two young women.

Tien Cheng told York Crown Court he was concentrating on the road rather than looking at the speedometer when his high-powered Mercedes CLS “slipped” into the central reservation in the early hours of November 29 last year.

Cheng, 28, of Redcliffe Parade West, Bristol, is accused of causing the deaths of Jingning Wang, 20, from York, and 21-year-old Quan Qin, by dangerous driving, which he denies. He admits dangerous driving.

Both women were rear seat passengers in Cheng’s car at the time and got out after the crash near Tadcaster. Kevin McGregor, 40, of Gladstone Street, Acomb, York, whose red Mazda collided with the two women, admits hitting them but denies causing their deaths through careless or inconsiderate driving. Giving evidence, Cheng said he thought he was driving “at 80mph or more than 90mph” on the A64 but it would have been “impossible” for him to have been travelling at 140mph, a speed the jury had previously been told he could have reached.

“I was concentrating on the road ahead, not the speed I was doing, so I didn’t notice if there was a lot of water on the road, and I slipped to the side of the carriageway,” he said. “I knew there would be cars coming up behind us so I told the other people in the car to be careful when they were getting out.”

Cheng claimed about a minute elapsed between him hearing one of the rear passenger doors make a “special noise” as it closed and a “bang” when the women were hit by McGregor’s car.

When Tim Capstick, prosecuting, said: “I suggest you exaggerated and made longer the events which took place in the back of the vehicle, because it helps your case if they were outside the vehicle for a longer period of time.” Cheng denied this. He also said he “cannot accept” his friends’ deaths.

The trial continues.