Mexborough & Swinton Times, March 15, 1929
Road Perils.
Wombwell Child Killed.
Run Over By Lorry.
An inquest was held at Wombwell on Tuesday,, on Jack Tart (3), son Qf Wm Tart, miner, Aldham Cottages, Barnsley Road Wombwell, who was knocked down an killed by a motor lorry in Barnsley Road, Wombwell, on Friday.
The driver, Wm. Hetherington, 53, Oxford Street, Rotherham, was represented by Mr. A. B. Thorneloe, of Sheffield
A youth named Clarkson said he was walking along Barnsley Road, when he saw the child jump off some railings and run into the road. The lorry proceeded about 20 yards, and then pulled up. The person on the back of the lorry shouted to the driver that he had run over something. The child was then lying about a couple of yards from the pavement. When the child started running across the road the lorry was about ten yards away. The lorry did not swerve until the child had been run over. The child was first knocked down and then run over. There were pedestrians on the footpath going in the direction of Barnsley. These would hide the child from view until he stepped off the path.
Mr. Thorneloe: What distance would the lorry be away when the child actually stepped off the footipath?—About six yards.
Mr. Thorneloe: Do you think the driver had a chance of missing the boy ?—Yes. I think he had. Had he applied his brakes at once I think he would have missed him.
Mr. Thorneloe mentioned that the lorry and load weighed 13 tons 3 cwts. and asked witness if he still thought the driver could have pulled up in time to avoid an accident? —Witness: Yes, I do.
Mr. Thornekte: Have you any experience of driving a lorry ?—Witness : No.
Mr. Thorneloe: Then you don’t know anything about it.
P.c. Harding said that proceeding to the scene of the accident he saw the child lying in the roadway. 13ft. from the pavement. Witness removed the body to the mortuary. The gate on which the child had sat was opposite the child’s house. The road was quite dry, but witness could not say whether there was any traffic about. The lorry was travelling on the proper side of the road.
Mrs. Woodcock, 34, Aldham Cottages, Wombwell, said she was leaving her house when she saw the child sitting on the railings. Next the child was on the ground, and witness saw the wheel go over him. She did not see the child knocked down.
The Coroner : What did the lorry do then? —I couldn’t tell you. sir. I covered my face up. I couldn’t watch it, sir.
Witness agreed it was a very dangerous place for children.
Annie Beachill, of Aldham Cottages, said she saw the child leave the railings. When she looked again he was under the back wheel.
Rhoda Brazier, 40, Aldham Cottages, Wombwell, said the child seemed to run into the lorry. She did not think the driver had any chance.
Wm. Hetherington, 53, Oxford Street, Rotherham, the driver, said he was carrying wire, and the gross weight of load and lorry was about 13i tons. At Aldham Cottages he noticed three pedestrians, and immediately afterwards the child ran out from in front of them. Witness was proceeding in the direction of Barnsley, and the pedestrians were going the same way. Seeing the child, witness sounded his horn, applied his brakes and swerved to the right in an effort to miss the child. The lorry was only two yards from the child when witness first saw him. The front wheel struck the child, but did not run over him. The rear wheel passed over the child. Witness did all he could to avoid an accident. He had been driving motor vehicles for seven years, and had never had an accident of the kind before.
Asked by the Coroner what distance he could pull up in with his brakes full on, the driver replied, “Ten to twelve yards.”
The father: If he requires ten to twelve yards to pull up on the level, how will he go on downhill?
The jury returned a verdict of “Death by misadventure,” and exonerated the driver from blame.