Rock band crash: Driver ‘ignored ten warning signs’

FOUR members of a British rock group were killed when their manager inexplicably ignored flashing warning lights on a barrier at a bridge and their car plunged 80ft into a canal, an inquest heard yesterday.

Craig Tarry, 32, was driving members of up-and-coming band Viola Beach back to their hotel in the early hours after a gig in Norrkoping, Sweden, in February when the accident happened.

The bridge was being raised for a tanker to pass along a shipping canal around 18 miles from Stockholm, the hearing in Warrington, Cheshire, was told.

Mr Tarry ignored around ten flashing lights and signs warning the motorway was closed. He drove on to the hard shoulder to pass a queue of traffic before smashing through two sets of barriers at 56mph.

Tests revealed that Mr Tarry was not drunk or on drugs.

Weather conditions were good and there was also no suggestion he had fallen asleep or wasn’t in proper control of the Nissan Qashqai hire car, which had no defects.

Mr Tarry, lead vocalist Kris Leonard, 20, drummer Jack Dakin, 19, and guitarist River Reed, 19, died of head injuries. Bass guitarist Tomas Lowe, 26, drowned as the vehicle sank within seconds.

The court heard that Viola Beach were on the brink of the big time, had tours booked in Europe and America and were due to play the Glastonbury festival. The band’s debut album was released six months after their deaths and went to No 1 in the album charts.

Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg said police in Sweden had cooperated fully with inquiries made by Cheshire police.

He concluded that all five men died as a result of a road accident but told their relatives the cause of the ‘most awful tragedy’ would probably remain a mystery.