The driver of a monster truck that ploughed into a crowd of spectators, leaving three dead and 28 injured, has told a court that he was unable to control the throttle in the seconds before the crash.

Mario D said he took his foot off the accelerator but the throttle stayed open, making it impossible to slow the truck down. ‘If the throttle is open you can brake as much as you want. I’ve been driving this truck for nine years and nothing like this has ever happened before,’ he is quoted as saying by news agency ANP.

A five-year-old boy, a 50-year-old man and a 73-year-old woman died when the truck veered into the crowd during a stunt show in Haaksbergen in September 2014.

D, 51, from Vijfhuizen and the organisers of the event, Stichting Evenementen, appeared at Almelo’ district court on Monday to face charges of manslaughter.

Geerlof Kanis, chairman of Stichting Evenementen, said similar events had been held in previous years and he did not believe he had committed a criminal offence. ‘We had the impression we were dealing with a professional company,’ he said of the truck hire business.

Several victims and relatives of those who died also gave statements to the court. One is quoted by ANP as saying: ‘I will never forget the image of the truck coming towards me and the sound of breaking bones.’

In an earlier hearing prosecutor Aidan van Veen said the truck was supposed to make a sharp turn after driving over a line of cars, but even if it made the turn there was only a ‘bizarrely small’ gap of 3.3 metres between the truck and the spectators.

The court also heard on Monday that the official who issued the permit for the event only realised after the crash that a monster truck had been included in the show. The truck was only mentioned on the reverse side of the application form, he explained.

The hearing is expected to conclude on Tuesday.