A5 Milton Keynes: Flooded road crash victim's partner agrees pay-out

The crash happened on the A5 south of Milton Keynes near Little Brickhill in August 2018

The partner of a woman who died in a crash after driving into standing water on a main road has agreed an £850,000 settlement with Highways England, a court heard.

Susan Henderson died aged 36 after losing control of her car on the A5 near Milton Keynes in August 2018.

The mother-of-two veered into the opposite lane and crashed into the car of Margaret Shaw, 53, who also died.

The High Court heard Highways England Company Ltd had "admitted liability".

Ms Henderson's partner at the time, Darrell Manning, alleged Highways England had breached a duty of the Highways Act and claimed about £1.4m in damages, the court heard.

Charles Curtis, a barrister representing Mr Manning, said Highways England had made an offer which his client wanted to accept.

Deputy High Court Judge Margaret Obi said she was "satisfied" the £850,000 settlement was "appropriate".

Mr Curtis said Ms Henderson had lost control after driving into a "large area of standing water" and Highways England Company Ltd had "admitted liability".

'Failed to identify the problem'

An inquest in 2019 heard heavy rainfall had failed to drain away due to a build-up of "detritus" on the gutter cover at the side of the road.

Senior coroner for Milton Keynes, Tom Osborne, heard inspections were carried out weekly, but one taken four days before the accident failed to identify the blockage.

After the inquest, Mr Osborne issued a report to prevent future deaths.

"I heard how the roads are examined and monitored on a regular basis, but that such inspections are conducted at speed and that the process failed to identify the problem with this particular drain on the A5," he said in the report.

"I believe that the process for inspection should be reviewed.

"In my opinion, action should be taken to prevent future deaths."

A spokesman for National Highways, which was called Highways England in 2018, said it had responded to the coroner's notice in July.

He said it had reviewed its inspection requirements, including the speed with which these were carried out.

In October 2019, National Highways East region had moved to a new "asset delivery approach" to manage the strategic road network, he added, and inspections had been moved in-house.

He said: "The asset delivery inspection methodology has given greater flexibility to allow increased inspection frequencies at locations where a specific risk has been identified."