Little girl is among 4 killed by runaway truck as it speeds past school at home time
A YOUNG girl was among four people killed yesterday when a truck ran out of control near a school.
Pupils were returning home from lessons when the driver of the gravel lorry careered round a corner and crashed into vehicles and pedestrians.
The dead girl is thought to have been walking with her mother and grandmother. The other victims were inside a car.
Five more people were injured in the carnage and four of them were taken to hospital, one by air ambulance.
Witnesses said the truck driver appeared to be having brake trouble when he lost control on a steep hill on the northern outskirts of Bath at around 4pm.
Emergency services based themselves at the primary school, which is closed today, leading to fears the girl might have been a pupil there.
The 32-ton HGV hit a number of vehicles and at least two pedestrians as it careered down Lansdown Lane in the Upper Weston area of the Somerset city.
A 66-year-old woman who lives opposite the scene of the crash said: ‘My whole house shook with a terrific noise like a bomb going off. I rushed outside and it was just mayhem.
‘The lorry was on its side on top of a black car, and I was told three people in the black car had died.
‘The gravel from the lorry was all over the road and the fire brigade arrived and cut the bodies free from the wreckage.
‘The lorry had hit lots of other cars on its way down the hill, and I was told there was a grandmother, mother and daughter walking along the pavement and that the little girl had been killed when the lorry mounted the pavement.’
The woman added that there were
‘It was like a bomb going off’
injured people wherever she looked, adding: ‘The lorry seemed to have had brake failure and it came to rest on the corner.
‘It demolished the walls of all the houses on the corner and two workmen said the driver shot through the windscreen.
‘It was an accident waiting to happen. I have complained to the police before about these heavy lorries going up and down the lane.
‘It is too steep and too narrow for such big, heavy vehicles and there is supposed to be a 6ft width restriction on the lane but they just ignore it.’
Another resident said the road was unsuitable for lorries.
He added: ‘It’s supposed to be no vehicles over 6ft wide but the lorries have been using it as a shortcut for years and no one has ever done anything about it. Maybe they will now, but that’s not going to help those poor people who have died.’
Another local said the truck driver was sounding the horn frantically and even overtook another lorry: ‘It was clear he could not stop.’
Last night none of the victims had been named by Avon and Somerset Police.
Chief Superintendent Caroline Peters said: ‘ We are dealing with a very tragic collision here that has had four people lose their lives. We believe a tipper has been coming downhill, it has lost control and made attempts to avert an accident.
‘However, it has made contact with two pedestrians and a number of other vehicles.
‘What is important to us now is to ascertain the actual cause of this collision and to get as much information as we possibly can.
‘We have got collision investigators working and will be working throughout the night.’
Chris Lucas saw two air ambu- lance helicopters landing on a playing field shortly after the crash.
He said: ‘My children were coming home and as I opened the front door my neighbour said, “Oh my God there has been a crash”. We didn’t know at that point how bad it was.
‘One thing that is really is concerning is that road is on the school pick-up run. Weston All Saints Primary School is right next to it.
‘It is a very tight community here and one of my children goes to that school. My thoughts go out to eve- ryone involved.’ A spokesman for Bath and North East Somerset Council confirmed that the school would be closed today at the request of police.
‘Due to the tragic accident on Lansdown Lane this evening, the police have asked that Weston All Saints Primary be closed tomorrow,’ he said last night.
A spokesman for the Royal United Hospital in Bath said the three patients treated there had minor injuries. ‘As a precaution, one adult male and one adult female are being kept in overnight,’ he said.
‘The third person, an adult male, is being discharged.’
A spokesman for South Western Ambulance Service Trust confirmed the fourth casualty was flown to Southmead Hospital in Bristol in a critical condition.
Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, said: ‘The community is in shock, both for the families of those killed and also those who have been injured. ‘We are still waiting to get more details as to what the cause was. It is obviously devastating, tragic and awful, but until we know more we cannot speculate.’
He confirmed that the council had imposed 20mph speed restrictions on parts of Landsdown Lane road to improve safety.
He said: ‘It is a road where we have put speed limits in and flashing lights because it is quite a steep hill coming down. There have been attempts by the council over the years to improve safety.’