Teenagers killed in van and car crash near Carlisle named

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They were car driver Jessica Lakin, 19, of Crosshill Drive, Morton, Carlisle and passenger Grace Sarah Simpson, also 19, of Prescott Road, Carlisle.

They died after their green Peugeot 206 was in collision with a Royal Mail lorry just after 9am on the A595 road at Newby Cross.

The wagon driver, a 46-year-old man from Carlisle, was not hurt.

A section of the road - the main route from Carlisle to west Cumbria – was closed from 9.20am to 2.30pm.

The accident happened as the city faced its worst December snow in 30 years and temperatures plunged to -8C.

Sergeant Paul Brown, of Cumbria police’s traffic unit, said “We do have witnesses, but the more we have the better.

“At this stage it is too early to say whether or not the weather conditions were a key part in causing this accident.”

An investigation into the cause of the collision is underway.

The coroner has been informed and inquests will be opened in due course.

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Moments before the tragedy, a mystery white car was seen pulling across the path of the Peugeot driven by 19-year-old Jessica Lakin, causing her to take evasive action.

The manoeuvre led to her losing control of the car, which slewed across the road and collided sideways on with a Royal Mail lorry coming in the opposite direction on the A595.

In inquest heard how both Jessica and her friend Grace Simpson, also 19, died instantly in the crash at Newby Cross just south west of Carlisle on December 2 last year.

They were travelling out of the city and were on their way to work at Armathwaite Hall Hotel near Bassenthwaite.

The inquest heard detailed accounts of the circumstances surrounding the tragedy, and evidence of how Miss Lakin’s car – serviced a few months earlier – had a fault with its braking system which may have contributed to causing the accident. The inquest heard from motorist Les Tickner, who was driving out of Carlisle behind Miss Lakin’s Peugeot 206 at around 9.15am. A flood recovery manager with Allerdale Council, he had been on his way to work in Cockermouth.

There was a dusting of snow and both he and the Peugeot were doing around 30 to 35mph, he said.

When he was just south of the city boundary, he saw an oncoming white car pull out in front of the Peugeot and into Peter Lane on his left.

“I got such a shock,” said Mr Tickner. “The Peugeot took evasive action to the right, and it sort of twitched like a fishtail. I thought it would get past the front of the Royal Mail lorry into the verge but the Royal Mail van hit it.”

He thought the white car was either a four-wheel saloon or a five-door hatchback. “The Peugeot had nowhere to go... it pulled to the right to avoid the white car. I remember thinking if it hadn’t been them it could have been me.

“They didn’t have a chance.” He said the Peugeot’s back wheels must have gone across a strip of snow in the middle of the road.

Other motorists who were in the area at the time did not see the white car.

Lorry driver Robert Neesham, from Maryport, who was driving behind the Royal Mail lorrry towards Carlisle, said there had been a hard frost that morning. Though it was bright and sunny, he said there were still frosty patches on the road.

Motorist Joshua Doughty was waiting at the Peter Lane junction when the accident happened in front of him.

He described seeing Miss Lakin fighting to control the car, and seeing the Peugeot’s wheels stop momentarily.

He said: “I thought this is going to be close, but at the last second the car slewed round, and the van hit it. It wasn’t speed or anything like that. The car just veered.”

He did not see a white car turning in front of the Peugeot into Peter Lane. Police confirmed that the road had been gritted overnight, but temperatures that morning were as low as minus 3C.

The driver of the 7.5 ton Royal Mail lorry, Mark Crellin, said he saw no vehicle in front of him.

“I was just doing a normal journey back to Carlisle,” he said. A moment before the collision, he became aware of a “dark image” at the bottom right of his windscreen, and then the impact.

Police vehicle examiner Michael Lazonby said he found a fault with the Peugeot’s braking system – the brake force apportioning valve had seized up, possibly as a result of corrosion or exposure to the elements, leaving the rear wheels prone to locking.

That defect was potentially “likely to have been a contributory factor” to causing the crash, he said. Under normal driving conditions, the problem would not be noticeable, he said.

In her evidence, Jessica Lakin’s mother Marie said her daughter passed her test in April, 2009, and would often drive her to the shops. She felt confident in her daughter’s driving ability, she said.

“I was proud of her,” she said. “She was starting off in life, just getting ready to branch away from me. It wasn’t to be. I miss her like mad.”

Grace’s mother Carole said she had not wanted her daughter to go to work that morning. “Grace said she only had one treatment booked in.

She said don’t worry about me mum – I’ll be home tonight. She didn’t like to let people down.”

Recording verdicts of that the teenagers died in an accident, coroner David Roberts said: “I am satisfied there must have been something in front of her which made her change course, and based on the evidence of Mr Tickner, I am satisfied it was the white car that he referred to.”

There was nothing either Miss Lakin or Mr Crellin could have done to avoid the accident, he said. Both teenagers will have died immediately, and will not have suffered, he concluded.

After the hearing, Carole Simpson said: “Grace was never without a smile on her face, even as a baby.

“She had a love of life and was always bouncing around like Tigger, but she was also very practical and very organised! She loved her job, but like any 19 year old, she didn’t like having to get up early for it.

“She absolutely adored her little brother and sister and they have suffered since the accident. The house is very empty without her”.

Mrs Simpson added: “It is a very dangerous road and there have been so many accidents that I feel there should be some signs warning of the number of fatalities on that stretch of the A595.”