Whitby pensioner killed in traffic collision after car ploughed into brick wall

A retired tanker driver who lost control of his car and crashed into a wall in Ellesmere Port town centre steered so that his side took the brunt of the impact before passing away from the injuries he sustained 10 days later, an inquest has heard.

Kenneth Price, of Fairfield Avenue, Whitby, suffered multiple broken ribs when his automatic transmission Vauxhall Meriva careered across a service road adjacent to Civic Way and ploughed into a brick wall on October 11 last year.

He had just picked up his wife Phyllis and their grandson, who had been to Nationwide to deposit the youngster’s savings.

The 74-year-old, who began his career as a bus driver, died at Aintree University Hospital on October 21 from respiratory failure caused by the rib fractures and pre-existing medical conditions.

'What happened next I honestly don't know'

Mrs Price told the hearing at Warrington Coroner’s Court on Tuesday (June 23) that her husband had mobility problems but that did not deter him from getting out and about.

She recalled that when she returned to the car on the morning of October 11, Mr Price had been in high spirits and was joking with their grandson about borrowing a fiver from him following the trip to the building society.

“He turned on to the service road and turned to get into the main line of traffic but what happened next I honestly don’t know,” she said.

“The car seemed to shoot across the road. I said ‘stop Kenneth’.

“But he turned the wheel so that his side of the car took the full impact.

“It all happened so quickly, it was a matter of seconds.”

She added that Mr Price, who it is thought was not wearing a seat belt, told her in the ambulance that the throttle had stuck.

Police believe Mr Price’s car travelled 40 to 50 metres at a speed of about 30mph.

Joyce Abram, from Little Sutton, was in the town centre that day and heard the car accelerate, mistaking it for a boy racer.

“As I walked across the road from the bus centre towards the library, I heard this almighty roaring noise like someone was accelerating very fast and then I heard a bang.”

Another eye-witness, Ross Jones from Neston, was pushed out of the Vauxhall’s path by his wife.

“I thought it sounded like joy-riders,” he said. It went straight across towards the service road, then it hit the wall.

“The driver said that the throttle had stuck.

“The car came pretty close to me – close enough for my wife to push us away.”

'Mr Price was a very expert, professional driver'

In a statement read out to the hearing, vehicle examiner Maurice Lanson-Jones said, upon investigation, no evidence was found to indicate a fault with the accelerator.

Recording a conclusion of death due to a road traffic collision, senior coroner for Cheshire Nicholas Rheinberg said: “It is clear that what happened was sudden and totally unexpected so far as Mr Price and his passengers were concerned.

“I have heard that Mr Price was a very expert, professional driver.

“He drove tankers – massive vehicles which require a huge degree of concentration and skill to drive.

“I suppose there are either two possibilities – he either pressed the accelerator and kept it depressed or the accelerator became jammed.

“Mrs Price recalls her husband moving the steering wheel so that the impact was inevitable to his side of the car, avoiding as much as possible hitting Mr Jones and making sure that his passengers were uninjured, even if that meant he took the brunt of the impact.”