This is Kent --ROAD bosses have been blamed for "systemic failures" which led to the death of a 20-year-old student from Sevenoaks.
Coroner Roger Hatch ruled yesterday (Wednesday) that the reason Lucy Boughton's car skidded off the A21 was the failure of the Highways Agency to maintain the road, despite evidence of a worsening safety record.
The former Weald of Kent Grammar School pupil, of Oakhill Road, was at the wheel when her car crashed on October 24, 2011, skidding on the stretch between Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge where the road becomes a dual carriageway.
Mr Hatch, presiding over inquest proceedings at Tunbridge Wells Police Station heard how the Highways Agency had been repeatedly warned the road was unsafe.
But the inquest heard the authority failed to take action in the three years before Miss Boughton's death.
Miss Boughton's family, including dad Richard, mum Charlotte and siblings Amy, 22, Katie, 18, and Jack, 16, gathered at the hearing, and were told in the verdict that Miss Boughton was not at fault for the incident.
Amy was a passenger in the car, a mint green Volkswagen Polo, driven by her sister at the time of the accident.
Reliving the tragic day, she explained the pair were driving home to Sevenoaks from dinner in Tunbridge Wells in heavy rain.
"Halfway round the bend I felt the back of the car slip out and we started going towards the other side of the road," she said.
"I called out to Lucy and she replied in panic 'Oh my God'
"She tried to correct the car but it swung towards the trees.
"The next thing I recall is coming to and seeing headlights lighting up the tree trunks."
Tesco delivery van driver Matthew Elston, who was travelling in the opposite direction described how the car swung left and veered off the road.
"It hit the trees and flipped over before landing on its wheels again," he said.
Mr Elston and other witnesses described hearing other vehicles skidding on the bend after the accident.
Jonathan Powell, driving a black Vauxhall Astra van behind the Tesco van, from Tonbridge to Tunbridge Wells, said: "We could hear screaming so we jumped out of the van.
"When Jon was trying to open the door to get the girl out of the car his feet were slipping."
Simon Phipps, an estate agent from Tonbridge, sent two e-mails to KCC warning the road was unsafe before the fatality.
He claimed there had been an increase in accidents since the bend was resurfaced in 2007 and he could see that trees had been hit where cars were coming off the road.
In November 2010, Mr Phipps wrote: "Please put down a skid-resistant surface before someone gets killed."
His concerns began in 2007, when the previous high-friction surface was replaced.
Alexandra Luck, an independent consultant employed by Kent Police to investigate the accident, had similar concerns.
She said: "KCC received complaints in 2009 and 2010 about the safety of the road – in its response in 2010 it said that high friction surfacing would be laid in January 2011, but this was not carried out. I believe that there have been significant systemic failures to maintain the highway, despite a worsening safety record."
Elio Rapa, a manager for the engineering consultants Balfour Beatty Mott MacDonald, explained that four investigations were carried out at Castle Hill between May 2009 and 2011, but the route did not score high enough to receive funding.
He said: "After the fatality we couldn't wait for another to happen and the HA authorised funding for high-friction surfacing."
Mr Hatch summarised: "So it's a question of money – the bend wasn't a national priority but, when an accident like this happens, funds can suddenly be found?"
As the Chronicle went to press on Wednesday, the Highways Agency had not commented on the verdict. Reported by This is 23 hours ago.