Runaway prosecution?
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by Lee 1Cimber II Derbyshire police want the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute the driver and the owner of a runaway truck which smashed through a garage in Matlock, Derbyshire last September.
The 30-tonne truck flattened a set of railings outside a junior school as it careered down Lime Tree Hill, seconds before it ploughed through Suzannah Schmitt's garden and garage.
Witnesses said the driver drove into the garden in a desperate attempt to avoid a fatal crash at the bottom of the notorious hill. He escaped with minor injuries. Inspector Debbie Platt of Matlock police says she strongly recommended that the CPS summons both the driver and the truck operator. At a public meeting on 27 January anxious residents drew up a six-point plan for the hill. "I've seen trucks coming down here with their brakes on fire," says resident John Harrod. "It could cost a truck driver his life."
But the police and VI say that roadside truck checks, traffic lights and roundabouts to force trucks to stop at the top of the hill could prove too expensive.
Although police sympathise with residents' fears for the safety of children attending three nearby schools, they say the hill has been the site of relatively few accidents—there have been 17 during the past three years. Only one of those was fatal and this was the only incident involving a truck. Nearby Cranford Hill was the scene of some 50 accidents during the same period.
Residents are planning a second meeting in a month, when the council has considered its views.