A MILK tanker driver killed in a crash near Dorchester spoke to her husband moments before the accident, an inquest was told.
Melanie Wiltshire, 52, died when her tanker rolled over on the C53 near Dorchester between the Martinstown and Monkey’s Jump roundabout in the early hours of June 19 last year.
A jury inquest into her death at County Hall, Dorchester heard that Mrs Wiltshire, from Shillingstone near Blandford, had collected milk from Church Farm in Martinstown and left shortly before 1am.
In a statement read to the inquest her husband Richard Wiltshire, also a milk tanker driver with the Wincanton Group, said she had called him on her hands-free phone saying she was leaving and on her way back to the depot.
Within two miles of the farm her tanker rolled over and came to rest in a field adjacent to the road.
Mr Wiltshire said: “We said goodbye to each other and that was the last time I spoke to her.”
Martinstown resident Samuel Pascal described in his statement how he was the first to discover the tanker, which had rolled on to its side, at around 2am and he immediately called the police.
Mrs Wiltshire was pronounced dead at the scene, with pathologist Dr Mark Deverell concluding that the cause of death was a fractured neck.
Forensic collision investigator PC Clifton Beard said that a tachograph fitted to Mrs Wiltshire’s vehicle showed she was travelling at around 30mph as she app-roached the bend, which he suggested was too fast for the cab and tanker filled with nearly 20,000 litres of milk.
He said: “The primary cause of loss of control was the speed at which the combination was driven into the bend, which caused severe instability.
“It’s the loss of stability which caused the vehicle to roll over.”
PC Beard added: “The speed was high for that bend, it was too high but we don’t know why.”
The inquest heard that the tanker had a roll protection system fitted but it had not been activated.
PC Beard said it was impossible to say if it would have prevented the accident.
The jury returned a narrative verdict that stated: “The vehicle was found overturned on an acute bend on the C53. We believe this to have been an accident which may or may not have been prevented if the rollover protection system had been activated.”
THE INQUEST heard how Mrs Wiltshire was an experienced tanker driver and was described as ‘an ideal employee’.
Her manager at Wincanton Paul Clayton said he had known Mrs Wiltshire for six or seven years and only had positive things to say about her.
He said: “Mel was hard working, conscientious, reliable and basically an ideal employee.”
Mr Clayton added: “She was a bubbly and cheery person and respected by all the staff at Wincanton as was her husband.
“She was genuinely a lovely person to be around.
“I miss her as do lots of people.”
He also described her driving record as ‘exemplary’ and regularly drove the route she was on during the night of her death.
source: dorsetecho.co.uk
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