A member of the Royal Navy sadly died in "tragic accident" after a head on collision with a double decker bus. Jordan Critchley, was driving to collect his fiancé on 26 November, 2021 when his car crossed over the A612 carriageway and into a Nottingham City Transport bus which was driving towards Nottingham in the bus lane.
The collision occurred at 18:39, and Jordan died at the scene as a direct result of the injuries sustained at the collision. It was heard in Nottingham's Coroners Court by Coroner Fiona Gingell, that "from the bus driver's perspective the collision wasn't avoidable."
Other road users at the time noted seeing the 27-year-old's Volkswagen T-Roc go across the lanes and into the bus before spinning and stopping on a grass verge. They did not remember seeing the car brake, and it was heard by Police Sergeant Darren Lewis that both the throttle and brakes had been pressed by Jordan in the moments before the collision but that neither of these were a "heavy press."
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A forensic collision investigation was carried out by Nottinghamshire Police which found that neither of the vehicles were speeding or had any mechanical faults. The collision shattered the front window of the bus and caused the interior lights to switch off, and it was heard that the bus driver reacted "fast" to the oncoming vehicle.
PS Lewis said: "There is no clear evidence that explained what happened and why the car diverted into the lane the way it did. There is no clear interaction that would give one reason over another."
A statement by Jordan's fiancé, Bethany Dye, was referred to in the hearing to provide context to Jordan's state of mind and actions that day. Bethany and Jordan have been together for several years, they became engaged in May 2019 and were due to marry this year.
The statement described Jordan as being "fit and healthy" and the day as being "normal" , where Bethany had spent part of the day at home with him. That evening Jordan had driven Bethany and a friend to a pub a short drive from where they lived, and was due to go and collect them when he was involved in the fatal accident.
Bethany also shared a previous incident, where once on the way back from Tesco Jordan clipped the curb and said that he was going to have a black out. It was also heard that she had "never known him to be on his phone or distracted driving as he was always so careful."
A post mortem examination was conducted by Nottingham pathologist, Dr Ellis, which showed a number of traumatic injuries and fractures and that in his opinion based on the circumstances he's aware of that the primary cause of death for Jordan was multiple injuries.
There was some evidence of cannabis use, but it was a very low level from which it was unable to be determined when this was used. The toxicology found some evidence of cannabis use but it was a low level and was unable to determine when that may have been used.
It stated that "It's not possible to say that there has been an affect of cannabis on Jordan at the time of the collision." Coroner Gingell concluded that Jordan died due to multiple injuries from the collision.
It had been heard in court that Jordan was wearing a seatbelt, neither of the vehicles had any mechanical faults and neither were speeding. It was also heard that whilst Jordan had previously experienced a black out feeling, there was "no medical evidence to show Jordan suffered from this" at the time of the incident and that the coroner had "no evidence in front of me to suggest that this has been a deliberate act on Jordan's part."
"His vehicle veered on to the wrong side of the road for reasons that can't be known." Coroner Gingell described what happened as a "tragic accident" and offered her "sincere condolences to Jordan's family and friends in relation to their sad loss.
"Jordan was a much loved partner, son, brother and he will be sadly missed by all of those who knew him as a result of this tragic accident."
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