Inquest finds three died on A303 after car 'drifted'

Dennis Smith, 71, a retired dairy farmer from Corfe, Taunton, Claire Stride, 64, a retired DEFRA field worker from Uffculme, Cullompton, Devon, and Andrew Carless, 44, a farmer from Sandhurst, Gloucester, were pronounced dead at the scene of the collision just before 4pm on August 15, 2024.

The incident took place between the Southfields and South Petherton roundabout when the Skoda Yeti that Dennis was driving collided with a Sprinter van, killing him and the car’s two passengers; Claire, who was Dennis’ partner of 20 years, and Andrew, who Dennis was "very close" with and called his nephew [he was his cousin’s son].

South Western Ambulance Trust pronounced all three occupants of the Skoda dead at the scene, with "injuries incompatible with life".

Dennis, Claire, and Andrew had been at the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show earlier that day, where they’d spent a "wonderful morning together laughing, drinking coffee" and watching Dennis judge one class of the Supreme Dairy Championship, a family member who had been at the show told the inquest.

Vanessa McKinley, assistant coroner for Somerset, shared her findings at a read-inquest at Taunton Coroner’s Court on Monday, May 19, confirming that Dennis, Andrew, and Claire had died in a road traffic collision when the Skoda "drifted into the opposite carriageway", as evidenced by a dashcam video provided to police by a driver near the scene.

The assistant coroner added that she concluded Dennis had "lost control of the car" but that it "has not been possible to conclude exactly why this had happened," and that "none of the witnesses were able to provide evidence of Dennis’s appearance before the collision", but referred to witnesses’ statements that the Skoda’s brake lights didn’t illuminate as it drifted over the solid white line.

She said: "The Skoda was travelling westbound and was not seen travelling erratically or too fast. For some reason, the Skoda drifted into the opposite carriageway. Dennis was not trying to overtake another vehicle or avoid an obstacle."

"There is nothing about the way the van was being driven that could have caused the two vehicles to collide."

A post-mortem report from Dr Cooper found Dennis had "no background pathologies", and no cardiac, respiratory, or cerebral events, but added that an acute cardiac event from cardiac arrhythmia may not have been detectable in a post-mortem — a possibility acknowledged by Ms McKinley during her findings. Dennis’ primary cause of death was confirmed as haemothorax as a result of the crash.

Dennis had been diagnosed with an atrial flutter in April 2023 and had "borderline low systolic function", which he was taking medication for, but had no history of unplanned hospital visits, the inquest heard.

Ms McKinley said: "I find it unlikely that falling asleep at the wheel was the cause, as horns were sounded, which would have awoken Dennis, as would other passengers in the car alerting him."

She added: "It is possible that Dennis was distracted from his driving for some other reason, but we will never know."

Ms McKinley stated that Dennis had not consumed any alcohol and was not under the influence of drugs. She added that a forensic vehicle examination found no faults with the Skoda that could have contributed to the collision.

A statement from the sprinter van’s driver, Ionita Florin, was read at the inquest, in which he described good visibility and that “traffic was not heavy” ahead of the incident. Ionita, from London, was in Exeter for work, fitting windows with his colleague Luis Quintal. The pair had stayed overnight in Exeter to complete a job and were returning to London when the incident happened.

Ionita said he had “no time to react” and didn’t know why “the car [Skoda] drove over the white lines and hit us”. 

He said: “The car had crossed an unbroken white line, and came at an angle straight into our van, hitting us nearly head-on. It shunted our van at an angle, and there was no time to react.”

Ionita suffered bruising and was taken to Southmead Hospital, Bristol, by air ambulance, along with his passenger Luis, who was cut free from the van by the fire and rescue service and suffered a broken left hand, sternum, three ribs, and a fractured pelvis.

Luis shared a witness statement, stating that he’d been on his phone in the passenger seat before the crash and had not seen the car approaching.

He said: “Mr Florin said what the f***,  so I looked at him and then the road in front of us and the car hit us. I did not see it until right before the incident.”

Two off-duty police officers, PC Flemming and PC Warren, were driving a vehicle carrying police dogs, around 50 meters behind the Skoda, westbound, at the time of the crash. They worked with members of the public to help the occupants of both vehicles at the crash scene. The pair were travelling from Surrey and reported dry road conditions.

PC Warren said that ahead of the crash, the Skoda Yeti, travelling at around 50mph, had been "driving within the confines of the Highway Code" and had not come to his attention until "a slight diviation to the driver’s course" which was not corrected and he "suspected that something was very wrong".

PC Warren said: "The Skoda crossed the white centre lines at 30 degrees, with no change in speed, and went on to the eastbound carriageway."

The police officers "exchanged expressions of alarm" with each other, and PC Flemming sounded the horn and slowed the vehicle.

PC Warren said watching the crash unfold "felt like an eternity" and estimated that it was around 15 seconds from the moment the Skoda deviated to the impact on the eastbound carriageway. He said the "forces were immense" when the Skoda hit the offside corner of the sprinter van, which he said was travelling between 50 and 60mph, and that the Skoda span 180 degrees before coming to rest on the eastbound carriageway with "catastrophic damage".

PC Flemming called the emergency services, and police arrived first, then the ambulance service five minutes later. One witness’s call to emergency services lasted 12 minutes, from immediately after the crash at 3.44pm, until ambulance services had arrived, the inquest heard.

The off-duty police officers did not report seeing any of the Skoda occupant’s chests moving to suggest breathing following the crash, and PC Flemming used a crowbar handed to them by a member of the public to smash the car’s window to remove the one rear passenger, Claire, from the vehicle.

They reported that the sprinter van’s passenger was "in a lot of pain", and its driver was “more responsible but dazed”.

Following the crash, witnesses recalled a HGV driver who pulled up his vehicle to "stop people driving through the crash scene" while they awaited emergency services, the inquest heard. The off-duty police officers were assisted by a recently retired medical professional who came to their aid and started CPR on Claire until PC Warren felt it was "not proportionate to ask members of the public to continue CPR".

Michael Stevenson was returning to Plymouth from a European holiday with his wife and three sons when he saw the Skoda "three cars in front", travelling westbound, "come out of the carriageway onto the other side" around 100 yards from them.

He said he thought the Skoda was overtaking but "realised something was wrong".

Michael said in his witness statement: "The brake lights never went on on the Skoda. I believe the van driver who the Skoda hit slowed down slightly before the impact. In my opinion, there was nothing the van driver could do to avoid the collision. It was as if the [Skoda] driver had fallen asleep. My wife checked on the driver of the Skoda, he had no pulse. Two off-duty police officers took control of the incident, so we returned to the car to look after the children.”

Timothy Leach, whose Land Rover Sport captured the incident on a dashcam, shared four clips with police that were used as evidence. 

He said he was travelling "directly behind a Skoda Yeti" travelling westbound and "did not notice anything about the vehicle that would cause concern". The Skoda "moved into the outer lane and overtook two vehicles, then pulled back into the single lane before continuing for half a mile at 60mph."

Timothy then noticed the Skoda 200 yards in front of him when it "moved from single lane to the right crossing and continuing at a very shallow angle into the oncoming lane, which had no oncoming traffic at the time. The sprinter van was in the inside lane."

He said the movement was "not purposeful" and was "more of a drift than a controlled manoeuvre". The witness said there was "no steering input, no change in direction", and he estimates it was 300 yards from the "drift" to the collision.

Alan Reece, who was driving a Range Rover Sport heading westbound, said "traffic was fairly light" when he became aware of the Skoda travelling westbound in the eastbound carriageway. He said the Skoda was "not following the curve of the road" and had "driven in the path of the oncoming traffic".

He said: "My immediate impression was that the driver had fallen asleep. There was nothing that the van could have done to avoid the collision."

Jeffrey French, a forensic vehicle examiner for Avon and Somerset Police, carried out a full inspection of the Skoda and said: "In my opinion, the driver's, front seat passenger's, and rear seat passenger’s seatbelts were all being worn at the time of the collision. There were no faults or defects to the car that would have led to a collision."

The inquest was attended by the families of all three of the deceased, who asked that a message of thanks be shared with the drivers who helped at the scene.

Lucinda McDonald, Dennis’ eldest daughter, told the Gazette: "Thank you to the public who stopped at the scene and made us feel that they weren’t alone."

Noni Smith, Dennis’ daughter, said: "The positive that came out of the sad inquest was the generosity of help given at the scene by the other vehicles travelling at the same time. We will always be thankful to all who helped in some small or massive way in trying to save them all. We will never be able to thank you enough."

The family of Andrew Carless told the Gazette: "He is much loved and missed every day by his wife, his two daughters, his mum, his sister; and all his loving family and friends. We take comfort knowing he will always be with us in our hearts and remembered through memories of a wonderful life together, lived to the full."