A57 fatal crash police car 'aquaplaned' at 103mph

PC Dave Fields was responding to an incident when the collision happened

Two people died after a police car aquaplaned on a wet road at 103mph and crashed into another vehicle, an inquest jury has concluded.

PC Dave Fields, 45, and Lorraine Stephenson died in the crash on the A57 in Sheffield on Christmas Day 2017.

Mrs Stephenson, 61, was the front seat passenger in a car driven by her husband.

The inquest jury in Sheffield concluded the loss of control of the police car was due to a "combination" of factors.

"In particular, heavy rainfall throughout the day had resulted in wet driving conditions and accumulations of water at certain points on the A57," it said.

Collision investigator Robert Crispin told the three-day inquest earlier that once a car starts to aquaplane it has "lost complete directional control".

"You're just at the mercy of the momentum of the vehicle," he said.

Mr Crispin said the car's data recorded the car's speed at 103mph just before it first lost control, but another device recorded the speed at 100mph.

Lorraine Stephenson was a passenger in a car being driven by her husband

Supt Bob Chapman, from South Yorkshire Police, told the jury the officer had been responding to a 999 call about a group of people fighting in the street.

He said the call met the criteria for a "blue-light" response.

Mr Chapman said the first officer at the scene found nothing and all units were stood down.

That call was made just before 20:20 GMT - the same time the first call to report the crash involving PC Fields' car was made.

The inquest jury concluded: "It is more likely than not that the police vehicle aquaplaned and lost control on an accumulation of water, reported to be a depth of approximately 3 mm, driving at a high speed of 103 mph."