Sisters' death crash a mystery
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tanker driver, after safely stopping his vehicle, rushed to a camper van involved in the pile-up to warn the mother and child in it not to look inside the crashed vehicle.
The Rover had ‘embedded’ in the front of the tanker, which was empty of its load, but still carrying dangerous fume residue.
Crash investigator MPC Mike Lackey told an inquest at Truro City Hall the ‘dreadful accident’, and the driving manoeuvre which caused it, happened “for reasons we may never know”.
The court heard the victims’ car swerved and hit a 4x4 before possibly clipping the camper then heading straight into the path of the tanker coming in the opposite direction, along the A30 by Loggans Moor Roundabout outside Hayle.
Tanker driver Mark Vearncombe fought back tears as he gave his account of the “horrific” crash. The professional HGV driver had been making his way along the A30 when the crash happened. He said: “I got on to the Loggans roundabout at the end of the Hayle bypass. I was doing around 40mph. Suddenly there was a car heading towards my tanker from the opposite direction. I was so shocked on seeing this car that I don’t have a full recollection of the incident that followed.
“It was too late to avoid the collision. I vaguely remember a camper van in front of me, and trying to avoid it. I instinctively braked as hard as I could.
“The impact threw me about even though I was wearing a seatbelt.
“I had to stop the tanker going across the other side and hitting oncoming traffic – but I couldn’t pull the tanker back to the left. The car was now embedded in the front of the tanker.
“There was no way I could control the tanker after the impact. I felt extremely shocked and it was a few minutes before I could do anything. I can’t say what caused the car to come over to my side of the road.”
Witness Janet Summers was driving her Jeep when the crash car swerved into her path. She said: “The car didn’t signal. It just veered to the right into my lane. There was no indication that it was going to happen.”
Camper driver Leif Olson said: “I saw a red Rover veer onto the wrong side of the road. After the crash the lorry driver got out of the cab. He walked over and told us not to look in the car, which I thanked him for.”
Driver Sean Huish said: “All of a sudden and for no apparent reason the car swerved across the road in front of the camper van in front of me. “
Returning a verdict of accidental death, Deputy Assistant Coroner Barrie van den Berg said:
“It’s a mystery why the Rover ended up where it did.
“It’s fairly obvious no one intended this and it’s obvious this was a dreadful accident. It happened in the blink of an eye, and with tragic consequences.”
“I hope that the two families will take from this inquest our deepest sympathies.”
