TMCnet News

I will sue ministers after sis was killed by driver on mobile ; backing for our campaign to curb phone use at the wheel [Ulster Region] [Sunday Mirror (England)]
[September 15, 2014]

I will sue ministers after sis was killed by driver on mobile ; backing for our campaign to curb phone use at the wheel [Ulster Region] [Sunday Mirror (England)]


(Sunday Mirror (England) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) A HEARTBROKEN man whose sister died after being run over by a driver talking on his mobile plans to sue the Government over her death.

Paul Newman, 53, has consulted a solicitor and hopes to take legal action eight years after the death of Ellen, 46.

He believes ministers and phone companies failed in their duty of care by making it possible for motorists to drive while calling.

Builder Paul, who is backing the Sunday Mirror's Drive Phone Smart campaign, said: "I want to see people not being needlessly killed and injured. Lives are being destroyed. I don't want money out of anyone but if our claim makes them sit up and take note that they have got to do something it has worked." Mum-of-two Ellen was hit by a car as she walked along a pavement in Manchester. The driver was charged with driving without due care and attention, banned from driving for a year and fined Pounds 300.



Figures show drivers on mobiles are four times more likely to crash, and accidents caused by them have risen every year since 2009.

Road safety campaigners say the 290 road deaths a year blamed on phone use will outstrip drink-driving fatalities by the end of 2015. The Sunday Mirror is calling for the option of a one-year ban for mobile use. We also want six penalty points to be imposed, instead of the current three, and fines to be hiked from Pounds 100 to at least Pounds 1,000.


Dad-of-two Paul, of Jersey, has spent the past eight years trying to raise awareness of the dangers of using phones while driving. He has set up a charity, HandsOff, in memory of care assistant Ellen.

He said: "I've been to MEPs, I've had questions asked in the European Parliament and I've been to the telecoms business. I've tried to turn it into something positive." But Paul says he still weeps when he reads about the latest mobile phone road death. "I know what their families are going through for the sake of a text or a call," he said.

To back our campaign or tell your story: EMAIL us at [email protected], CALL 0800 289 441, WRITE to Drive Phone Smart, Sunday Mirror, 1 Canada Square, London E14 5AP or TWEET @THESUNDAYMIRROR (c) 2014 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]