A landmark inquest is examining the deaths of four people killed by drivers with failing vision who carried on getting behind the wheel despite medical advice.
None of the killer motorists – all aged over 67 – felt they were a danger to the public, yet all were incapable of reading a numberplate from 20m (66ft), the legal minimum.
Campaigners hope that as a result of the coroner’s decision to hold a rare joint inquest, ‘wide-ranging changes’ can be put forward to tackle a ‘failing’ system and keep unsafe drivers off the road.
Peter Westwell, 80, was mown down crossing a road near Billington, Lancashire, in March 2022 and died of extensive injuries including fractured ribs, a collapsed lung, torn aorta and a spine broken in three places.
The man who killed him, Neil Pemberton, 81, could only read a number plate from 8ft away.
Anne Ferguson, 75, was killed in July 2023 after being hit by a van driven by Vernon Law, 72, in Whitworth, Lancashire.
The incident occurred just one month after Law had been told by opticians that he had cataracts in both eyes.
An optometrist described his condition as the most extreme they had seen in 23 years of practice.
Police estimated he was not driving particularly fast – 35mph in a 30mph zone – but simply failed to see the two women.
And lifelong friends Marie Cunningham, 79, and Grace Foulds, 85, were struck down and killed by Glyn Jones’ Audi in Southport, Merseyside in November 2021.
Jones, 67, had been told more than 10 years earlier that he had a degenerative eye condition which meant that his vision was ‘well below the standard required’ to be driving.
In an unusual move, Jones – who was jailed for seven years and four months in January last year after admitting two counts of causing death by dangerous driving – was brought to court today to give evidence at the inquest, being held in Preston.
Jones admitted that he had known since the age of 22 that his eyesight was bad and likely to deteriorate and that he knew he was below the legal limit to drive.
But he had failed to tell the DVLA and claimed he believed that the optician’s advice was only advisory.
Jones said that he believed his eyesight was getting better after a corneal transplant, saying he had only driven twice in the two years before the fatal crash.
He said he had ‘relied upon my own evaluation of my eyes to determine whether I was able to drive’.
Optometrist Emma Hyland told the inquest that Jones suffered from a degenerative eye condition and she had told him he was unfit to drive.
But he added: ‘With hindsight that was an error of judgement.
‘I accept the ladies’ deaths on that day were due to my deficient eyesight which was below the limit.’
She said the condition had left him with ‘severely impaired vision’.
But Ms Hyland said that under ‘the laws of confidentiality’ she couldn’t inform the DVLA that Jones was unfit to drive.
Pemberton, who was jailed for two years and eight months in December 2023, was doing 48mph in a 30mph zone.
He had been told to stop driving in 2013 because of his eyesight – yet when he reapplied for a licence he failed to mention he had a problem.
Giving evidence at the inquest yesterday, accident investigator PC Rachel Carberry told senior coroner Dr James Adeley that the cause of the collision in which Mr Westwell died was ‘excess speed and the failure to see someone was in the carriageway’.
‘This driver could barely see beyond his front bumper,’ she added.
Following Mrs Ferguson’s death, Law was jailed for four years.
Interviewed after the collision he even struggled to read texts on a phone, the inquest heard.
Before the hearing Terry Wilcox, of Hudgell Solicitors, who represents the families of Mrs Cunningham and Mrs Foulds, said all four victims were killed ‘by drivers who had been told they were unsafe, but selfishly continued to get behind the wheel’.
‘We believe wide-ranging change is needed, and hope that these inquests, with the support of the coroner, who has called a significant list of witnesses, goes some way to making this happen,’ he added.
The hearing continues.