The Evesham Standard Friday September 25 1953
Crash Survivor’s Mind “A Complete Blank”
A Castle Bromwich woman, survivor of a road crash at Ashton-under-Hill, near Evesham, on July 16 told an inquest jury at Evesham on Tuesday that she was unable to recall anything about the accident or the events that led up to it. Her mind was a complete blank and her first recollection was of waking up in hospital the next day.
The inquest was on Stanley Wilson Rhodes (57) a departmental manager employed by George Wimpey and Co Ltd., Castle Bromwich, who was killed instantly when the car he was driving from Cheltenham towards Evesham collided with a heavily laden coal lorry. The verdict recorded by Mr. W. W. Sturglass (Deputy Coroner for South Worcestershire) was “Death by Misadventure.”
In returning their verdict, the jury said that no blame for the accident could be placed on the driver of the lorry, Mr George Dalloway, of George Road, Erdington, Birmingham.
He Pulled Up
Severely injured in the collision, Miss Vera Ethel Knibb, of the Lindens (No.10), New Street, Castle Bromwich, said the only thing she could remember before the accident was her superior pulling up at a filling station for petrol. They had been to Cheltenham on business and were on their way back to Castle Bromwich. Her injuries included a fractured skull and broken ribs.
Evidence was given earlier by Mr. Godfrey Kenneth Cook, of Hockley, Essex, who said he turned back on his cycle after hearing a noise that sounded like the side of the coal lorry falling off and the load spilling on the road. He found the lorry partly on the grass verge and the car on the opposite side. The lady passenger was lying partly out of the car on the near side.
Scratch Mark
Police Constable K. R. Perkins, of Beckford, told of going to the scene – about 300 yards on the Cheltenham side of Ashton-under-Hill turning at 12.30 p.m. The front and side of the car, which was completely on its nearside verge, was smashed. The lorry with the exception of the offside wheels, was on its nearside verge and the front suspension was wrecked. The broken suspension had left a scratch mark over 46 feet long on the road. For the whole of its length the mark was on the lorry’s nearside.
Asked to give his opinion, in the light of this evidence, of how the accident happened. P.C. Perkins said the car must have gone over the white line and by the force of the collision been bounced back on its nearside. He would be inclined to think that the car had swung completely round.
Speed of 20 m.p.h.
Mr. Dalloway stated that he had driven heavy vehicles for 15 months. The lorry he was driving at the time weighed about eight tons unladen and was carrying 12 tons of small coal. His speed would not be more than 20 m.p.h. at the time of the collision. He first saw the car when it came round a bend 100 yards away. “It straightened up, but then came across the road into me. It could not say what its speed was,” he said.
He applied his brakes and swerved onto the grass verge in an attempt to avoid the car. The impact snapped the steering column, the steering wheel went through the cab window and he hit his head on the cab roof.
Evidence was also given by Mr. Dennis A. Rhodes, of West Bromwicjh, the victim’s eldest son. Mr. L. Hurst Timmins of West Bromwich, Pol-Sergt. E. C. E. Smith, Dr. Felix Curran, pathologist ay Worcester Royal Infirmary, Mr. W. T. Toney of Weir Meadow, Evesham and Mr. L. O. Rogers of Hucclecote, near Gloucester.
