Smart motorway widow ‘appalled’ at snub as Highways England chief cancels meeting
A SMART motorway widow who agreed to meet Highways England’s boss to discuss road safety is “appalled” he cancelled at the eleventh hour.
Nick Harris, the new acting chief executive of the Government-owned transport company, wrote to Claire Mercer saying he wanted to convey his “condolences” after her husband was killed on the M1 stranded in a live lane with the hard shoulder removed.
Jason Mercer, 44, and Alexandru Murgeanu, 22 died after being hit by a lorry in 2019.
Mrs Mercer, 45, launched Smart Motorways Kill calling for hard shoulders to be restored. She is “deeply upset” Mr Harris invited her and spent a month agreeing who could attend before cancelling the night before.
“He approached me asking to meet,” Mrs Mercer, from Rotherham, said. “My entire family had a Zoom meeting to discuss what we were going to say. We were a little bit nervous about it all.”
On March 26, Mr Harris wrote to her saying he was “keen to meet those who have personal experiences” of accidents “so I can listen to their concerns”.
The letter adds: “I am speaking to a number of people and would really like to meet you face to face.” They agreed to meet at Mrs Mercer’s lawyer’s offices in
Sheffield, with her lawyer there purely “in an advisory capacity”, and with Sheena Hague, Highways England’s director also present.
The day before he said he could not attend if her lawyer was in the room. Mrs Mercer said the lawyer would only be there in an “observational role”, as she had explained 17 days earlier.
She added: “At 9pm the night before
he cancelled. We had agreed terms carefully, obviously because I’m pursuing them for corporate manslaughter and seeking a judicial review.”
Mr Harris was “sorry” to cancel so late on. He added how the involvement of Mrs Mercer’s lawyer and the author of a report changed the “nature” of the meeting, adding: “I must also listen to legal advisers.”