HGV crash victim distracted by phone

♦ A newly qualified driver who crashed and died may have been distracted by her phone.

Georgia Walton, 17, was killed in the smash just six months after passing her driving test when she collided with a HGV on Nov 26 last year near Market Drayton, Shrops.

Stoke-on-trent coroners’ court heard she had been sending and receiving instant messages on Whatsapp and Snapchat just a minute before the accident happened.

David James, the assistant coroner for Stoke on Trent and North Staffordshire, said: “It is my opinion that Georgia was distracted. I know we can’t be 100 per cent certain. I do not need to be, because I can see no other reason for it.”