GUILTY UK - Mitzi Steady, 4, & 3 men killed by runaway truck, Bath, 9 Feb 2015

[Supernovae]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-31339654

The tipper truck, containing aggregate, lost control when going down the hill in cold weather, struck a group of pedestrians before crushing a car.

Three victims named as Mitzi Rosanna Steady, 4, Stephen Vaughan 34 and Phil Allen, 52. Mitzi's grandmother was taken by Air Ambulance to Southmead Hospital in Bristol, where she remains in a critical condition.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-31359495

The driver is apparently only 19.

 

[gregjrichards]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-31339654

The tipper truck, containing aggregate, lost control when going down the hill in cold weather, struck a group of pedestrians before crushing a car.

Three victims named as Mitzi Rosanna Steady, 4, Stephen Vaughan 34 and Phil Allen, 52. Mitzi's grandmother was taken by Air Ambulance to Southmead Hospital in Bristol, where she remains in a critical condition.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-31359495

The driver is apparently only 19.

It's a terrible tragedy very similar to the devastating one here in Glasgow in December. R.I.P all who died and I hope all those injured recover in full.

 

[Supernovae]

The driver of the tipper truck had only had an LGV licence for a matter of "months" according to the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-31454693

He'd passed another test for a heavier class of vehicle less than a week before the accident, days after his 19th birthday.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/13/bath-tipper-truck-crash-teenage-driver-phillip-potter

The driver of a runaway tipper truck involved in a collision that killed four people, including a four-year-old girl, was a teenager who had celebrated qualifying to drive an articulated lorry just five days earlier.

Phillip Potter, 19, received the congratulations of friends and relatives after posting a picture on Facebook in which he posed proudly in front of a lorry holding his new licence.

On Monday evening he was driving a 32-tonne truck that apparently careered out of control on a very steep and narrow hill on the outskirts on Bath. It ploughed into Mitzi Rosanna Steady, four, who was walking with her grandmother Margaret Rogers. Mitzi died instantly. Her grandmother remains critically ill in hospital in Bristol.

The truck overturned on a Volvo at the bottom of the hill in the village of Weston, also killing executives Phillip Allen, 52, and Robert Parker, 59, and their driver, Stephen Vaughan, 34.

Potter, a farmer’s son from Wiltshire, was treated in hospital for minor injuries and has since been discharged. Police spoke to him while he was in hospital and inquiries are continuing. No arrests have been made and no further developments in the investigation are expected before next week.

...

Potter posed with his licence on Wednesday 4 February. His father, Frederick, wrote on Facebook: “Very proud day of Phillip Potter passing his HGV artic test first time day after his nineteenth birthday well done – feeling happy.”

It is understood that Potter had been qualified to drive certain categories of lorries for some months. He also has extensive experience driving tractors.

Police are continuing to investigate why the truck was on Lansdown Lane in Bath, where residents have long complained about lorries and other vehicles using it to skip around the centre of the city. The road has a width restriction but no weight limit.

I heard on the local news that the age limit to gain an LGV licence was reduced from 21 to 18 in 2009 to encourage more young people into the haulage industry.

There had been concerns raised previously about the road safety implications of the school redevelopment that the lorry was servicing.

http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Plan...School-given/story-21323587-detail/story.html

Plans to increase the size of Weston All Saints Primary School have been approved by councillors, despite concerns from residents about road safety.

The application for new buildings at the Broadmoor Lane site, which will allow the school to grow from 420 pupils to 630, was voted through by members of Bath and North East Somerset Council’s development control committee meeting.

Broadmoor Lane Residents’ Association had been opposed to the plans, because it was worried the extra cars would exacerbate the already busy traffic problems outside the gates at drop-off and pick-up times.

Lisa Loveridge, from the group, said they were also not convinced the extra pupil places were really needed.

She also highlighted the fact that the council’s highways officer had raised a number of concerns about safety risks.

http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/...d-eyewitness/story-26001858-detail/story.html

A father yesterday claimed the tipper truck collision which killed four including a four-year-old girl was an "accident waiting to happen" and he had warned authorities.

The resident explained the steep, narrow road, had recently been overrun by construction deliveries to the primary school just meters from the crash site.

He said that Weston All Saints Primary School, Bath, was currently undergoing an extension to increase the number of classrooms.

But it had caused controversy amongst the locals who claimed that the project would cause traffic safety issues, including an unsafe route to school.

In a council meeting in April last year, the father asked: "who will be held accountable if a child is killed or seriously injured trying to get to or from school?"

Councillors reassured him measures would be put into place but he claims lorries continued to use the route as a run-through - despite the difficult conditions.

He added that deliveries could only be made between 8.30am and 9.30am and 2.45am and 3.45am - so it was possible the tipper truck was waiting for the curfew to be lifted.

He said: "We were really concerned at the start, when they first began construction. The one thing we said to them is exactly what has now happened.

"How the hell has this been allowed to happen? Lorries have been turning up all day since the work started.

"The lorries should not have been there when school was finishing and starting - there are times set up - I'm just so so angry.

"Lorries aren't allowed to make deliveries between 8.30am and 9.30am and 2.45am and 3.45am.

"Looking at the timings maybe this lorry was waiting at the top of the hill for 3.45 to make the trip down the hill.

"I asked the council who would be responsible if a child was hurt of killed but they reassured me it wouldn't happen, that plans would be put into place.

"All of us predicted something like this happening - it was an accident waiting to happen - but no one listened.

"I don't know for sure but I think that the lorry might have been making a delivery to the school, there are other construction sites in the area though.

"I feel so so sorry. I wish I could have done more."

 

[Supernovae]

Two men have been arrested:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/17/two-men-held-over-fatal-tipper-truck-crash-in-bath

https://www.avonandsomerset.police....sted-following-lansdown-lane-fatal-collision/

We have this morning (Tuesday February 17) arrested two men following the death of four people in Bath last week.

It follows the incident in Lansdown Lane on Monday evening (February 9) when a tipper truck carrying aggregate was in collision with a number of vehicles and two pedestrians.

A 19-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and manslaughter by gross negligence.

A 28-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing manslaughter by gross negligence.

Their arrests follow the deaths of four-year-old Mitzi Steady from Bath, Robert Parker aged 59 from Cwmbran, Phillip Allan aged 52 from Swansea and Stephen Vaughan aged 34 from Swansea.

The girl’s grandmother who was also injured in the incident remains in a critical condition in Southmead Hospital.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/...-Bath-tipper/story-29265185-detail/story.html

Peter Wood, who worked as a mechanic at Grittenham Haulage at the time of the tragedy in February last year, appeared before magistrates in Bath this morning charged with two counts of manslaughter...

The driver of the truck, Phillip Potter, aged 19, from Dauntsey, near Chippenham is currently on bail before a pre-trial hearing on July 1 in Bristol. He has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

His boss Matthew Gordon, 29, also from Dauntsey, was charged with two counts of 'aiding, abetting, counselling and procuring to cause death by dangerous driving', and two other counts related to the serious injuries.

 

[Ann Blyth]

Thought I should update this thread, can’t bear having loose ends, years of working in criminal defence law, I’ve become a creature of habit...

Mum of four-year-old killed in crash speaks of heartbreaking loss

Death smash tipper truck driver was travelling at 'excessive speed', court hears

Death crash lorry 'not unsafe'

Death crash truck brakes 'unusually hot'

Two men guilty of manslaughter over Bath tipper truck crash

Bath truck crash: Haulage boss and mechanic convicted over deaths but driver cleared

Company boss and mechanic found guilty of manslaughter in Bath tipper truck crash

Boss and mechanic guilty of tipper truck crash that killed girl, 4, and 3 men

Two jailed over fatal Bath truck crash

The Bath tipper case: what really happened and what have we learned?

Bath tipper truck crash: Mother of Mitzi Steady 'struggles to accept she's dead'

Statement from Brake on the Bath tipper truck tragedy - Brake the road safety charity

Such a sad waste of lives, absolutely tragic.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Matthew Gordon, the owner of the haulage company and Peter Wood, the mechanic, were each convicted of four counts of manslaughter.

Gordon was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison, and Wood to five years and three months in January 2017.

How Bath Tipper truck tragedy 'completely affected' whole community