A 25-year-old driver has gone on trial accused of being involved in a race between two cars which ended with the deaths of three teenage girls.

Ursula Alokolaro, 16, from Heckmondwike, and her two friends, 15-year-old Gemma Cost, from Batley, and 16-year-old Natalie Donlan, from Dewsbury, all died when the Ford Fiesta they were in crashed into a flat-back lorry.

Another jury has already decided that 27-year-old Fiesta driver James Houston, who was severely injured in the collision, caused the deaths of his three rear-seat passengers, but yesterday Adam Anguige, of White Leaf Road, Batley, was also alleged to have been responsible.

The jury at Bradford Crown Court was told that in the lead-up to the fatal collision in September 2006 Anguige, who was driving a Vauxhall Nova, had been involved in competitive driving with Houston along Wakefield Road, Huddersfield.

Prosecutor Andrew Dallas told the jury that Houston, of Croft Cottage Lane, Huddersfield, had been trying to overtake both Anguige's Nova and a Range Rover on a sweeping left-hand bend when he lost control of the Fiesta and crashed into the on-coming lorry.

Mr Dallas alleged that the Friday night collision happened after Anguige "picked up the gauntlet" thrown down by Houston while they were both driving around in their recently acquired hatchbacks.

The court heard that Houston had paid just £150 for the 13-year-old Fiesta while Anguige had bought the Nova, which had been fitted with a more powerful engine than standard, about three weeks before the fatal collision.

Although Anguige later told police he knew little about cars and thought the Nova still had its standard engine, Mr Dallas suggested was lying to the police so they would not think he was something of a "boy racer at heart".

On the evening of the crash, Anguige and his girlfriend are said to have gone to a retail park in Wakefield where large numbers of young car enthusiasts gathered on a Friday night.

They left together with some other friends in a Vauxhall Tigra but later encountered Houston, who had the three girls and a male friend in his Fiesta.

Mr Dallas alleged that as the Fiesta sped past the two cars some of its occupants made rude gestures and swore.

He said that was provocative behaviour and a wise motorist would have ignored it.

"But the effect on the drivers of the other two cars may well have been just what James Houston, or possibly some or all of his passengers, intended and they set off after him," said Mr Dallas.

"The effect of all this we say, and invite you to infer, is that the gauntlet was thrown down by Houston and whoever was like-minded in his car and that the gauntlet was picked up primarily by the defendant who went after him.

"We say from then on the defendant and James Houston, in one way or another, were driving competitively. Encouraging each other in effect."

Mr Dallas said witnesses described seeing two cars travelling at "abnormally high speed" along the 40mph.

The Nova is alleged to have overtaken the Range Rover with Houston simultaneously overtaking Anguige's vehicle.

Mr Dallas said at one point the three vehicles were in line abreast before the Fiesta struck the Nova and then crashed side-on into the front of the flat-back lorry.

"The lorry was more or less stopped in its tracks by the impact," said Mr Dallas.

Anguige intitially drove off from the scene before returning later without his girlfriend.

Mr Dallas alleged that on his return Anguige presented himself as an innocent victim of Houston's reckless driving.

In his initial witness statement to police he claimed he was in shock after the accident which he said happened when he was about three car lengths behind the Fiesta.

In a later police interview Anguige denied he had been racing and claimed he backed off well before the bend.

But Mr Dallas said Anguige left the scene because he knew he had been involved in the incident.

"Involved in a way that made it his first instinct to think I'm in trouble here I need to get away," he alleged.

Anguige has denied three charges of causing death by dangerous driving and his trial is expected to last about five days.