A Spalding dad-of-three died after colliding head-on with a fire engine responding to an emergency call on the A16, an inquest has heard.
Adam Bradley (36) was driving his children to InflataNation in Peterborough when the accident happened near Crowland at 12.40pm on Sunday, March 3, 2024, Lincoln Coroner’s Court was told on Tuesday (July 29).
Several witness statements read at the hearing stated cars on both sides of the road were pulling over to let the fire engine being driven by Grant Newman through.
Police investigator PC Anthony Kirk told the hearing that there were no signs of either the Peugeot Adam was driving or fire engine having braked before the collision occurred.
The hearing was told his car gave a ‘glancing blow’ to the back of a Mercedes which put it in the path of the oncoming fire engine.
He had concluded Mr Newman, who had driven fire engines for 12 years, had been driving responsibly for the situation and that there was a ‘strong likelihood’ but ‘no evidence’ Adam’s ‘attention wasn’t on the traffic’.
The fire engine went on to hit two other vehicles before resting in a ditch. The Peugeot also ended up in a ditch.
The inquest was told the fire engine was driving in wrong direction for the emergency it had been called to.
The three-person crew had left Crowland Fire Station just moments earlier after being given the ‘vague but not unusual’ instructions from police that it was to attend a road traffic collision on the A16, Mr Newman said.
He and officer in charge Liam Doyle had decided heading north was the most likely location for the incident, thought it was actually south at Newborough.
Mr Newman told the inquest he believed he was fine to drive and had a total of seven hours’ sleep before being called out to the incident, despite having been on nights working at a Cambridgeshire Fire Service call centre the preceding night.
He also told the hearing it was his job to drive and concentrate on the road while his two other crew members looked out for the incident they had been called out to and his attention was on the road.
Mr Doyle had told the inquest his colleague had ‘no time to react’ area coroner Jayne Wilkes said.
Due to the witness statements she acknowledged ‘there was some doubt’ over whether the fire engine had its sirens on at the time of the collision, but she was satisfied it did given Mr Doyle’s assurances.
“In any event, Adam would have seen the fire engine with blue lights flashing from some 200 metres before the collision,” she said. “He did not react to the fire engine, nor the slowing vehicles in sufficient time.”
Legal representatives of Adam’s partner Danielle King, asked Mr Newman about the number of fatalities on the
A16 near Crowland, though he responded those he’d attended had been at the junction with the B1040 which was 92 metres away.
The inquest was told there were no external factors for the collision, with no evidence of driving under the influence from those involved or any mechanical failures with the vehicles.
A mobile phone found at the scene was too damaged to retrieve any data from.
Miss Wilkes told Adam’s family: “I know the devastating impact this collision has had.
“We’ve lost a wonderful life, a father of three children who were with him in the car and suffered physical injuries as well, no doubt, as mental trauma over what happened.”
