Road dash led to tragedy

An inquest heard this week that 11-year-old Lawrence Reeve was on his way home from Heathfield School when the accident happened on Friday, September 13, last year.

He had ridden to his home village on the school bus, service 52.

After getting off at the Wellbrook stop with two girls, Lawrence waited for the bus to depart before quickly checking the road each way and darting towards the other side.

An eyewitness said: 'He hesitated for a second, but just kept running.' It was then that a Mitsubishi Shogun, driven by Hadlow Down man Trevor Smith, struck the youngster with its front-offside wing and 'sent him flying'.

Lawrence, of Roselands Drive, Wellbrook, suffered serious injuries and died later that day at the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells. His two friends did not see the accident happen, but later said that they heard the screeching of tyres and turned to see the aftermath.

Crash investigator PC Chris Burt told the coroner that Mr Smith could not be blamed for the collision, as he could have had no more than one-and-a-half seconds to react to Lawrence's poorly-calculated dash.

'No one can say what prompted young Lawrence to run across the road like that,' said PC Burt. 'He must have been aware of the cars going up and down the hill, but it seems he decided to try and dart between the vehicles anyway.'

'Coroner Alan Craze could make no general suggestions about how to avoid similar incidents in the future. The bus driver, Brian French, said he was sure there had been no 'horseplay' before Lawrence's accident, and that all the children had been standing on the pavement when he pulled away.

Mr Craze concluded by saying: 'If there is anything that can be done to raise the awareness of children to the dangers of crossing the road in particular locations, then I and every other parent in the land will hope that it will be done.'

Verdict: accidental death.