Woman killed after man drives wrong way on A13 – Essex Police, November 2022
On 25 November 2022, Essex Police identified a van that did not have rear lights illuminated. A subsequent check on the van’s registration plate revealed that the van was being driven on cloned registration plates.
The police car activated its blue lights and sirens to stop the van, but the driver failed to stop. This lead to the officers reporting this to the force control room.
The van drove through red traffic lights and travelled the wrong way onto a roundabout before driving up a slip road and onto the A13 dual carriageway against the flow of traffic.
The police officers abandoned the pursuit and turned off their blue lights and siren.
An unmarked Essex Police car, without its blue lights and siren activated, started to ‘shadow’ the van, from the correct side of the road. As the van travelled into the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) area, it collided head on with another car. The driver of the van and the driver of the car sustained serious injuries, while a passenger in the car sustained fatal injuries.
We were deployed to the scene and secured initial evidence.
The police officers involved in the pursuit provided detailed accounts of what happened.
We also examined police radio transmissions, incident logs and police body worn video footage. We considered the officers’ actions alongside local and national police policies, procedures and guidance and found that they had complied with them as required.
We finalised our investigation in April 2023.
Our investigation concluded there was no indication the officers may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence. All officers were treated as witnesses and cooperated fully with this investigation.
Following an investigation by the MPS, the driver of the van pleaded guilty to causing the death of the passenger in the car and causing serious injuries sustained by the driver of the car, both by dangerous driving and was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. They were also convicted of numerous other driving offences.
We carefully considered whether there were any learning opportunities arising from the investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.
In this case, the investigation has identified potential learning about the development of further tactics, the use of recording equipment within police cars and procedures within the control room. We will now enter a consultation phase with Essex Police.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that Essex Police should take steps to ensure all police vehicles used for pursuit management are fitted with visual recording equipment as soon as is reasonably practicable and amend its policy to cover where necessary both training and operational use of the equipment.
This follows an IOPC investigation where Essex Police officers pursued a van which travelled the wrong way round a roundabout before driving up the off-slip and onto a duel carriageway, against the flow of traffic. The police officers abandoned the pursuit and turned off their vehicle’s blue lights and siren. An unmarked Essex Police car, without its blue lights and siren activated, started to ‘shadow’ the van, from the correct carriage way. As the van continued to travel it collided head on with a car. The police vehicles were not fitted with recording equipment, and officers body worn video (BWV) did not show incident due to the angle.
The investigation into this incident highlights the pitfalls where either BWV is not activated due to other competing demands placed on pursuit drivers and the angle of such devices does not always show a clear view of the road ahead and/or the actual pursuit activity in its entirety. This does not allow for best evidence retrieval and may potentially hinder an investigation. Authorised professional practice states: ‘It is highly desirable in pursuit situations to use vehicles fitted with IDR/driver and vehicle data management systems (DVDMS), together with visual recording equipment, for evidential purposes. Such vehicles should be deployed to take part in pursuits where possible.
Awaiting response
The IOPC recommends that Essex Police review how they can assist single crewed dispatchers when a cross border pursuit occurs.
This follows an IOPC investigation which found that as the dispatcher was single crewed, they were not able to monitor the radio and contact the external force to inform them of a cross border pursuit at the same time. This required the officers involved in the pursuit to change their own channels in their vehicle which resulted in officers contacting the wrong channel and causing a delay to informing the bordering force of the pursuit in their area.
The NPCC Airwave pursuit Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) makes it clear that pursuing drivers should not be subject to the added pressure of having to attempt the changing of Airwave talk groups (radio channels) whilst in pursuit as the lead vehicle. If the pursuit had continued for a longer period of time, such a continuing lack of control room management, authority, assessment of risk against the pursuit criteria and communications failure may have had the ability to influence decision making and risk. The identified learning does not appear to have contributed to the cause of the collision or influenced any decisions by pursuing officers.
Awaiting response