A HIGHWAYS Agency officer from Gravesend was mowed down after a driver lost control going round a bend on the M25, an inquest has heard.

John Walmsley, of Doria Drive, was hit by a car on September 25 last year while waiting on the hard shoulder helping a man who had crashed on the same bend.

The jury at Tunbridge Wells police station on November 21 heard how the weather that day had been really bad.

Stephen Kocak, of Gillingham, was travelling at around 1.15pm when he lost control of his car by junction 5 near south Chevening.

As Mr Kocak waited on the hard shoulder with two Highways Agency officers for the recovery agency to arrive, a similar incident unfolded.

He said: "As we were standing there, I saw a red Vauxhall Vectra coming.

"Then the car had lost control. It was swerving all over the place. It swerved over to the right shoulder and hit him."

Fellow driver David Reeves, from Peterborough, said: "I was going around 55 to 60 miles per hour and it was going faster than me.

"It spun right around and was left facing the way it had come from.

"It hit the safety barrier with the driver’s seat and I saw the officer go up into the air. It happened incredibly quickly."

The Vauxhall Vectra driver Michelle Friend, from Essex, was visibly distressed as she gave evidence.

She said: "I was facing the barrier and I was about to crash into the hard shoulder.
"I lost control of the vehicle and hit him.

"I didn’t know until the recovery man came up and told me."

Inspector Edward Widdowson of the Health and Safety Executive told the inquest that protocol for Highways Agency traffic officers was that they should stand behind a safety barrier.

It is thought  he had not done so, probably because the ground was rough and very muddy.

David Kirk from the Kent Police Forensic Investigation Unit later analysed the scene and said the road conditions were not the cause of the crash.

He said: "The driver over-corrected her steering.

"She reacted to a perceived loss of control which caused an actual loss of control.

"The responsibility must lie with the driver."

The cause of death was given as a haemorrhage with contributing factors ruptured aorta and fractured femur and lumbar vertebra and the jury returned a verdict of death by road traffic collision.

News Shopper: A guard of honour was kept by Highways Agency staff

Tributes

Mr Walmsley's family paid tribute to him following the inquest.

They said: "John was a fantastic husband, dad and grandad.

"We lost him in tragic circumstances and nothing will bring him back but we know he died doing a job he loved, helping the travelling public.

"We thank everyone who donated money in his memory to his two favoured charities.

"As a result we were able to give over £3,300 to the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance Trust and EllenorLions Hospices.

A Highways Agency spokesman said: "Our thoughts are still very much with John's family, friends and colleagues.

"We have listened carefully to what has been said at today's hearing and will, over the coming weeks, consider in more detail the coroner's report and take any appropriate actions."