Mum, 30, died after texting at the wheel
A MOTHeR was using her phone to call and text friends when she crashed her Mini Cooper into a tree and it burst into flames.
Hannah Wood, 30, probably died instantly when the car hit a verge and veered across the road into the tree. Miss Wood, from Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, had left work at lunchtime on February 13 to meet friend Sarah Hodges in Stroud.
An inquest heard Miss Hodges said she received texts from her at 12.27pm and 12.28pm, then nothing more. Also at 12.28pm, another friend, Antonia Hinder, spoke to Miss Wood on the phone. In a statement she said she could tell her friend was driving at the time.
She said she had been in the car previously with Miss Wood when she had answered her phone, put it on loud speaker and put it on her lap.
Collision investigator PC Joseph Sample confirmed that the mother of one used the phone just before the crash, which took place on a slight bend on the B4014 near Avening. Marks on the road showed she continued driving straight when her wheels hit the verge.
‘It is likely she was using her phone in some capacity at that point and was therefore distracted, leading her to enter the grass verge,’ he said.
It is likely she died instantly. Gloucestershire coroner Katie Skerrett accepted the cause of death as unascertained.