Woman, 25, killed when she was hit by car while clutching prosecco bottle after seatbelt row with taxi driver
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/4 ... xi-driver/
Image: The Sun/Athena Picture Agency
A TAXI passenger was hit by a car and killed while clutching a prosecco bottle after arguing with her driver because she refused to wear a seat belt.
Vanessa Collins-Smith, 25, stepped out of the cab on an unlit road and was mown down by a passing car on February 20, an inquest heard.
Care-home worker Vanessa, from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, was last seen alive holding the bottle of alcohol and dressed all in black on the A4076.
Taxi driver Awais Eshan told police: “I kept asking her but she refused to wear a seat belt.
“The alarm was sounding and the more I asked her the more abusive she became.”
Mr Eshan pulled over and Vanessa got out of the taxi without paying and told the driver to “f*** off.”
Two cars swerved to avoid her before she was hit by a LandRover Defender and killed outright in the accident at 11pm on February 20.
TAXI TRAGEDY
Driver Gordon Stanger said he didn’t see the young woman because she was dressed all in black.
Accident investigator Pc Aled Thomas said: “Her dark clothing blended in with the surroundings.
“The driver would not have been able to avoid her.”
Her mother Marie said after the hearing: “She was a kind and bubbly girl, she was loved by the people she cared for at the home.
“She’d never objected to wearing a seat belt before, we don’t know what to make of it.”
Vanessa had been excited at starting to train as a nurse after working as a carer since leaving school, the inquest heard.
One of her colleagues at The Meadows care home in Johnston, Haverfordwest said: “Vanessa was just lovely, one of life’s natural carers.
“All the residents loved her, she would give them a cuddle if ever they were upset.
“It’s just heartbreaking that she died so tragically.”
Pembrokeshire Coroner Mark Layton recorded a verdict of death from multiple traumatic injuries in a road traffic accident.
Image: The Sun/Athena Picture Agency
