'Massacre' threat of runaway lorry

Margaret Doel and Sally-Ann Jamieson died in the crash

An out-of-control lorry which smashed into an office and killed two women could have caused a "massacre", a coroner said.

Margaret Doel and Sally-Ann Jamieson died when the 35-tonne truck crashed through the front of an estate agent's office in High Wycombe on 14 June last year.

Buckinghamshire coroner Richard Hulett said it had been a lottery which of the many people out in the town centre would be hit when the lorry's brakes failed at the top of a hill.

He recorded a verdict of accidental death on both women.

Gathering speed

"The prospects for a massacre were considerable," he said.

The court heard a statement taken from police interviews with driver Martin Fahey, who was not at the inquest in High Wycombe.

He said he was going down Amersham hill towards the crowded town centre when he tried to brake as a car pulled out in front of him.

However, his foot went straight to the floor and he ran into the car.

The lorry then began gathering speed as it went downhill.

His statement said: "I was trying to brake but absolutely nothing was happening.

'Carnage' caused

"I was beeping my horn and flashing my headlights but all the time I was increasing speed."

He then hit a transit van before crashing into Aitchison's estate agents on Easton Street, where 48-year-old Mrs Doel worked and 40-year-old Mrs Jamieson was a customer.

Mr Fahey said: "The next thing I knew I was in the shop. I knew I had caused a lot of carnage."

The lorry and trailer, loaded with bricks, was only stopped from becoming further embedded into the building by the vehicle's crane.

Earlier problems

It took an hour to cut Mr Fahey free.

He told police the vehicle had had brake problems four to six weeks previously, but these had been fixed by a garage.

Police vehicle examiner James Paterson told the inquest that the lorry's brakes were poorly adjusted and badly maintained, and would have had little effect.

Mr Fahey told police that he had been in the very low fourth gear when coming down the hill.

However, police found the lorry stuck in eighth gear after the accident.

They estimate it hit the building at a speed of around 23 miles per hour.

Mr Fahey and his employers DE Transport have been summoned before Wycombe magistrates for failing to maintain the brakes and exceeding the weight limit on a vehicle.