FOUR people who were killed in a “catastrophic” car crash on the A64 died accidentally, an inquest has found.

The two couples - Derek and Joy Green of Scarborough and newly-weds Paul and Susan Dockerty of Leeds - died when they crashed into an oncoming lorry at Scampston bridge at around 3.40pm on July 22, 2016.

An inquest into their deaths at Scarborough Town Hall yesterday heard that it had been a dry day, with heavy but flowing traffic.

Conservation officer Mr Green, 63, was driving. Mr Dockerty, 58, was in the front passenger seat.

Mr Green’s wife Joy, 60, a well-known local artist, was in the back with Mrs Dockerty, 57.

 

York Press:

They were coming home from the Dockertys’ wedding, held at Leeds registry office that morning.

Evidence was heard from witness Shahid Bari of Leeds, driver of the car immediately behind the couples’ Suzuki.

Mr Bari said that passing through Rillington, shortly before Scampston, he saw the Suzuki waver “close to the kerbside” but it then continued on as normal.

Then, at Scampston bridge, Mr Bari said: “Just all of a sudden, I saw the car collide with a lorry.

“It went into the air and landed on its roof.”

The lorry driver Vladas Monius, from Lithuania, said in a statement: “I had gone past the bend in the road and I saw a light vehicle driving into my lorry from the opposite direction. I pushed the brake pedal to the full, but the distance was too short.”

Post mortems were carried out by Dr David Scoones from James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough. He said the cause of death for all four was multiple injuries.

A toxicology report stated that drugs and alcohol had not been taken. Traffic constable Terry Collins told the inquest that the Suzuki must have crossed the central white line, and Mr Green had not applied the brakes. He said he could rule out environmental factors such as signage or road surface, and that Mr Green had not been using a mobile, adding that “distraction from within the vehicle was the most likely cause” of the car straying into the other lane.

Recording his conclusion of accidental death, coroner Michael Oakley said “it was to be a day of celebration” but it became “the most horrendous day”.

He said that Mr Monius had done all he could but was unable to avert the crash.

“There most likely was some kind of distraction,” he added. “What that was, we will never know.”