A HEALEY man was not wearing a seat belt and was talking on a mobile phone when his car skidded on ice, spinning him into the path of an oncoming lorry, an inquest heard.
Manjur Ahmed Seedat, 28, was running late for work on Saturday January 24 and may have been travelling slightly over the 30mph speed limit when he lost control after hitting a kerb and struck the lorry side-on in Soothill Lane.
The impact bounced
Mr Seedat’s Ford Focus to the other side of the road, where it hit a lamppost and came to rest at a nearby tree.
He suffered multiple head wounds which coroner Roger Whittaker said would have caused instant unconsciousness and death shortly afterwards.
The inquest in Huddersfield heard Mr Seedat, of Plover Drive, phoned his boss at Marshall Clay Products Limited in Howley Park, Woodkirk, where he worked as a weigh bridge operator, to let him know he was running late.
Quarry manager Eric Beech said he received the call at around 8.05am.
“I expected him to be there before 8am to open the gates,” he said. “The call lasted around two or three minutes and finished suddenly. I remember he said “no” and I didn’t hear anything else.”
Witness Nahida Katharada of Alfred Street, Batley, said she had also skidded on ice moments before the incident and had stopped her car at the side of the road to inspect damage to her wheel following a collision with the kerb.
She said the road was icy when she stepped out of her car and there was no evidence of grit in the area.
PC Daniel Pennington said when he arrived at the scene of the incident it looked like there was sheet ice across the road.
He said: “I requested for the gritters to get there straight away.”
Collision investigator Ian Lambton said there was evidence of a further two incidents where cars had skidded on ice in the area earlier that morning.
But civil engineer for Kirklees Council Richard Bunney said there was CCTV footage to prove gritters had been in the area the night before.
He said: “I don’t know why, if there was any ice on the road, it occurred on that stretch of road. There were no other problems reported on that day in the area.”
Recording a narrative verdict, which does not allow anyone to attribute criminal or civil blame to any individual, Mr Whittaker said: “Mr Seedat was using a mobile phone at the time of losing control, making it less likely for him to have regained it. But that may not have made a difference.
“Steps taken to de-ice all the roads in the area was ineffective in Soothill Lane where three other vehicles skidded on the ice.
“It was a dreadful tragedy.”
