Lost wheel blamed for deaths
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• The death of two Securicor guards has been blamed on a wheel which came off an artic heading south on the A34 in Hampshire, a Winchester inquest has heard. The wheel hit the nearside bank and rebounded across the dual carriageway and into the path of a Ford Transit van travelling in the opposite direction. Securicor van driver Brian Harris and one of his passengers, Ralph Wiltshire, both from Southampton, were killed. A third guard was seriously injured.
Police accident investigator PC Christopher Rennie told the inquest that damage to the nearside semi-trailer wheel and its stud holes indicated that it had worked its way loose. Forensic scientist John Goss said the nine fixing studs still in place had all been worn down "to a considerable extent" and had snapped or sheered off. This, he said, was characteristic of use with a loosely held wheel.
LI Contributions to Commercial Motor's Wheel Loss Fund — set up to pay for vital research into why wheels come off trucks — are still urgently needed. Send cheques payable to Commercial Motor Wheels Fund to Room 403, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS.