Highways agency could face charges over smart motorway death crash

Coroner considers sending case to prosecutors after grandmother was killed 16 minutes after breakdown

A CORONER investigating the death of a 62-year-old grandmother who died on a stretch of smart motorway is to consider referring Highways England to prosecutors to decide if manslaughter charges are appropriate.

Nargis Begum, from Sheffield, was killed while waiting for help after breaking down on a section of the M1 with no hard shoulder, near Woodhall Services in South Yorkshire, in September 2018.

Families of motorists killed on smart sections of Britain’s motorway network have repeatedly called on the Highways Agency to be prosecuted for corporate manslaughter over the scrapping of hard shoulders.

If t he Highways Agency were referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over Mrs Begum’s death it would be the first time a coroner has taken such a significant step.

The mother- of- f i ve and grandmother-of-nine, who was the passenger in a Nissan Qashqai driven by her husband, Mohammed Bashir, 67, had got out of the car and was waiting for help when another vehicle collided with the Nissan, causing it to plough into her.

At a pre-inquest review in Doncaster yesterday, Nicola Mundy, the coroner, said she was considering whether to adjourn the hearing in order to refer the case to the CPS to consider potential homicide charges, including whether Highways England had a case to answer for either corporate manslaughter or gross negligence manslaughter.

She heard how 16 minutes and 21 seconds elapsed between the breakdown and the collision, followed by a further six minutes and 15 seconds before warning signs were activated.

“I want to know why, essentially. It’s as simple as that,” said Ms Mundy.

The coroner said she had not yet made a decision on a referral and wanted to give lawyers for the government-owned company time to prepare a response before a hearing in February.

The coroner said she understood the CPS had decided against prosecuting the driver of the car which crashed into the Qashqai and she was also considering whether to refer this decision back to the CPS, based on evidence she had seen. The coroner said this included a witness who said the car was travelling at about 90mph and that 153 other vehicles, including lorries, had managed to negotiate safely past the stranded Nissan.

Ellen Robertson, representing Mrs Begum’s family, said they believed the referrals to the CPS should be made.

Ms Mundy said the inquest would be a so-called Article 2 case, allowing the coroner to consider the state’s responsibility for preserving a citizen’s right to life and, as such, will have a wider scope than a normal inquest.

She added that she needed more information about smart motorways from Highways England to build a full picture, including the rationale behind the policy, how safety refuges are spaced and details of previous incidents. The case was adjourned until Feb 11 for a further pre-inquest review.

Ms Mundy referred to a similar case involving the death of two men on a smart stretch of the M1 a few miles further north, near Sheffield. Prezemyslaw Szuba, 40, a lorry driver, was jailed for 10 months for causing the deaths by careless driving of Jason Mercer, 44, and Alexandru Murgeanu, 22.

Edmund King, AA president, said: “The AA has been raising similar questions for a number of years and last year revealed that on average it took 17 minutes and one second for a vehicle to be spotted broken down or stopped in a live lane.” He added: “This tragic case and too many others, are exactly why we have campaigned for doubling the number of emergency refuge areas to every three quarters of a mile and for stopped vehicle detection technology to be fitted across the network. The coroner’s questions reinforce the importance of that plan being implemented as fast as possible.”

A Highways England spokesman said: “We will assist the coroner in the forthcoming inquest and provide the information she has requested.”