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Care worker was fatally hit by car after exiting taxi following an argument about not wearing her se

Michael Murphy

A care worker in Pembrokeshire died instantly when she was hit by a vehicle while walking along an unlit road.

Vanessa Collins-Smith, 25, was killed minutes after arguing with a taxi driver over whether she should wear her seat belt or not.

An inquest heard she refused to put the belt on which soon escalated into an argument with the driver. Collins-Smith exited the vehicle onto an unlit road and was subsequently hit by a passing car. Taxi driver Awais Eshan told the inquest in a written statement: “I kept asking her but she refused to wear a seat belt. “The alarm was sounding and the more I asked her the more abusive she became.” Vanessa was last seen on the A4076 at around 11pm holding a bottle of Prosecco and dressed all in black. The inquest heard how two vehicles had swerved to avoid hitting her before she was fatally hit by a LandRover Defender on 20 February. She was killed instantly. The driver of the LandRover, Gordon Stanger, said he was unable to see Vanessa in the road because she was wearing black and it was dark. The inquest heard there was a pavement alongside the busy road, known as Dredgeman’s Hill, but tragically Vanessa didn’t know it was there. Accident investigator Pc Aled Thomas said: “Her dark clothing blended in with the surroundings. “The driver would not have been able to avoid her.” Pembrokeshire Coroner Mark Layton recorded a verdict that Vanessa died from multiple traumatic injuries in a road traffic accident. Her mother Marie said after the hearing: “She was a kind and bubbly girl, she was loved by the people she cared for at the home. “She’d never objected to wearing a seat belt before, we don’t know what to make of it.” One of her colleagues at The Meadows care home in Johnston, Haverfordwest said: “Vanessa was just lovely, one of life’s natural carers. “All the residents loved her, she would give them a cuddle if ever they were upset. “It’s just heartbreaking that she died so tragically.”

Image: Source; Facebook

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