From the Faversham Times and Mercury and North Kent Journal, Saturday 3 June 1939.

MOTOR FATALITY SEQUEL.

Canterbury Driver Heavily Fined.

Kenneth Harry Elvidge (21), a motor engineer, of Wincheap Street, Canterbury, was charged at the Wingham Petty Sessions, at Sandwich, on Thursday, with driving a motor car in a manner dangerous to the public at Brambling, on the Sandwich-Wingham Road on April 21st.

Mr. Ernest White (London) appeared for defendant, who pleaded not guilty.

Mr. Eric Weale, County prosecuting solicitor, said that on April 21st, at 10.30 p.m. defendant was driving a 16 h.p. Bentley motor car from Wingham to Canterbury and when coming round the bend by the “Volunteer” public house it was alleged that he skidded and travelled a distance of 99 feet, struck a bank which was covered by railings, went clean through those and down into the public house car park and there collided with two bicycles and two cars. The car finished up in the doorway of the public house and the door was picked up 48 feet down the road. As a result of the accident a passenger was thrown out and received fatal injuries (this was Sub-Lieutenant Frank Denne Adams, R.N.). It was a case of grossly dangerous driving. The road was not greasy, it was dry and therefore the skid must have been caused by defendant’s speed.

P.C. Moore (Canterbury) produced a plan of the scene of the accident.

In reply to Mr. White, witness said that he did not agree the white curve stopped at the beginning of the bend.

Mr. White: I suggest that the mark on the road was made by the exhaust pipe (produced) trailing on the ground?

Witness:- No, I am of the opinion that it was caused by the tyre.

In reply to Mr. Weale, witness said that the white line in the centre of the road went right round the bend.

Ethelbert Horace West, Corner House, Barnsole, Staple, said that he was riding a pedal vehicle past the “Volunteer” public house and the only other traffic he saw on the road was the car driven by defendant. It was going very fast; it was on its proper side of the road. He heard it start to skid as it got opposite him and then there was a crash.

In reply to Mr. White, witness said that he could not say when the sound of skidding might have been the exhaust pipe trailing on the ground.

Hilda Beaney, a maid at Cliftonville School, Margate, said that she was sitting in front of her father’s car, which was parked outside the “Volunteer” public house and was facing towards Canterbury. She saw lights in the windscreen of the car and heard a noise which at first she thought was an aeroplane. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a car coming along the green at a terrific speed. It hit the back of the car in which she was sitting and then crashed into the “Volunteer.”

In reply to Mr. White, witness said that she was first interviewed by the Police after the second hearing on the inquest.

Mr. White: Your car was back against the railings?

Yes.

Percival John Cordrey, 11, Cambridge Terrace, Walmer, stated that he was sitting in his car in the car park outside the “Volunteer” at about 10.30 on the night in question, and he was facing towards Wingham. He had two small side-lights on. He started to reverse and saw lights of a car through the back window of a stationary car in front and then heard a crash immediately followed by a second crash as the car smashed into the “Volunteer.” No car could have been effected by the lights of the car.

In reply to Mr. White, witness said that his lights would not shine down the road up which defendant was driving.

P.C. Clayton said that he arrived at the scene of the accident at 10.50 p.m. and saw four motor vehicles on the car park. Defendant’s car was partly in the public house and a car wedged to the nearside running board of defendant’s car. There was another car on the Goodnestone end of the car park facing Goodnestone, which was damaged on the nearside and on the Canterbury side was Courdrey’s car. One of defendant’s passengers had been thrown out and he was dead and four people were injured. With the aid of torches witness took measurements to show the position of the cars and the pool of blood. The following day he went to the scene with other police officers and made other measurements. On the Wingham side of the “Volunteer,” 7 feet from the near side of the road was a skid mark extending for 99 feet until the bank was reached, on the Goodnestone side of the public house. The car must have gone through the railings on the bank and some of the railings were found in the car park. There was a skid mark on the car park for a distance of 24 feet and from the bank to the wall of the car park was a distance of some 15 feet. The width of the road opposite the “Volunteer” was 31 feet and where the skid commenced it was 18 feet wide. A white line extended the whole length of the road and there was also a white curb stone indicating the bend. The front window and porch of the public house were extensively damaged and 48 feet further on he found bits of the porch. At 11.30 p.m. defendant stated, “I was going towards Canterbury and I was trying to put on a pair of glasses. They blew back on to my face. I suddenly saw a car on my right when the lights were dipped and my main object was to get out of the way of it. I actually thought I was on a straight road and saw what I thought was the back of a car so I turned to my left. I temporarily lost consciousness. The car belongs to my father. I was not going at a great speed.” When told he would be reported defendant said “All I am concerned with is the people in hospital.”

Mr. White: he was perfectly sober?

Yes.

The skid mark was about 2 feet or 3 feet wide?

Yes.

If it had of been caused by the tyre you would have expected it to be wider?

Not necessarily.

The skid mark you saw did not go straight up to the mark made by the wheels of the car on the bank?

There were wheel marks more or less in line.

In reply to Mr. Weale, witness said that in his opinion no lights in the “Volunteer” car park could have appeared to have been on the right-hand side of the road to defendant.

This concluded the case for the prosecution.

Defendant, giving evidence, said that he was in his father’s business and attached to the Auxiliary Air Force, and had to go to Detling every Thursday evening and three Sundays in the month. It was vital for him to have a license so that he could get to Detling and also for carrying on business. The car he was driving on the night in question was a 1925 Bentley, and when it reached a speed of 45 miles per hour the gears whined. He had tinted glasses which he had put on before the accident occurred. He knew the road fairly well and when he last went along it there was a hedge and wall at the corner. His speed was just over 40 miles per hour, but under 45 miles per hour as the gears were not whining. It was a de-controlled road. He had two side-lights on and one headlight which was dipped. Ahead he saw lights which he took to be the lights of a car on his right-hand side. He suddenly saw the bend in front of him and applied his brakes. He went on to the grass verge and he felt something – go up in his face and he lost consciousness. He did not think he quite put the brake on as he only remembered taking his foot off the accelerator and going for the brake. The skid mark could not have been caused by him braking.

In reply to Mr. Weale, witness said that his father pointed out the exhaust pipe to him a fortnight after the accident, when witness came out of hospital. When he made the statement to the police he was rather vague about the glasses.

Mr. Weale: Would not the whine that the gears were making when the car was going over 45 miles per hour sound like the noise of an aeroplane which Miss Beaney heard?

You would only hear the whine if you were sitting above the gears.

The whole cause of the accident was the speed at which you were going round the corner?

I thought I was on a straight road.

James Walton, 10, York Road, Canterbury, said that he was in the car sitting next to defendant. He knew there was a whining noise from the gears if the car’s speed was over 45 miles per hour, but heard no whine on the night in question. His nose was bleeding and he did not see much of the events leading up to the accident.

William Thompson, Bramling Cottages, Bramling, said that he lived practically on the scene of the accident. He was chauffeur to Colonel Friend and had 27 years’ driving experience. He was in his house and went out when he heard the crash. Regarding the mark on the road the only way that could have been caused by the wheel was if the tyre was flat and the mark was made by the rim. He thought when he first saw the mark that it must have been caused by some part of the car becoming loose. The exhaust pipe (produced) might have caused the mark if it had been hanging down.

Lewis B. Elvidge motor engineer at Canterbury, and father of defendant, said that he had been in the motor business for about 36 years. He towed the car away at about midnight, the same night as the accident, and noticed the exhaust pipe had become loose and was trailing on the ground. He was of the definite opinion that the mark on the road was caused by the exhaust pipe.

Mr. White, addressing the Magistrates, said that the public house was at right angles to the road and there was nothing to indicate that it was a public house so that it might easily be taken for the lights of a car by some one coming up the road from Wingham. As regarding the prosecution’s allegations that the marks on the road were caused by defendant breaking whilst he was speeding, he asked the magistrates to accept the evidence of the defence that the mark was made by the exhaust pipe. He asked the magistrates to dismiss the case, but reminded then that if they decided defendant had not been as careful as her might have been they could reduce the charge to one of driving without care and attention.

After a retirement of twenty minutes, the Chairman said the Magistrates had decided to convict.

Superintendent Cash said the defendant had two previous convictions. On December 9th, 1936, at St. Augustine’s Petty Sessions, he was fined 10s. for having no light on a motor car, and at the Canterbury City Police Court on the 12th of this month, he was fined £3 and his license was endorsed for speeding.

Defendant was fined £15 and his license was suspended for one year. He was also ordered to pay two guineas towards the costs of the prosecution and 14s. witness’s costs.

Mr. White asked if the Magistrates could reconsider the question of suspending the license bearing in mind defendant was a member of the Auxiliary Air Force and had to get to Detling.

The Chairman: We have considered that. He must have been going very fast and even at 40 miles per hour that corner is not safe. I am afraid we cannot alter our decision.