German woman killed in A66 crash was on holiday with husband

The fatal crash happened on the A66 north of Richmond in North Yorkshire in March 2019

A German woman who died in a car crash in North Yorkshire was on holiday with her husband, an inquest has heard.

Kerstin Hanke, 55, from Bunde in Germany, was a passenger in a VW Touran driven by her husband Thomas on the A66 near Ravensworth on 22 March 2019.

The car was involved in a collision with a lorry at a junction.

The inquest heard that Mrs Hanke died at the scene of the crash and Mr Hanke, who suffered serious injuries, still requires care in hospital in Germany.

Mr and Mrs Hanke had been on holiday with friends and had stayed at a cottage in Kirby Hill in the days before the crash, North Yorkshire Coroner's Court heard.

'Good driver'

On the morning of 22 March 2019 they checked out of the cottage with their friends and were planning to go for breakfast at Mainsgill Farm Shop, before catching a ferry from Hull back to Germany later in the day.

Their friends were driving north ahead of them on New Lane and turned right on to the A66.

Mr Hanke, who was described as a "good driver" in a statement by his daughter, also turned on to the A66 and the car collided with an oncoming Scania HGV.

He had been driving a left-hand drive German-registered car, meaning Mrs Hanke was sitting in the right-hand seat when the lorry hit the vehicle at about 38mph (61kph).

In a statement, Mr and Mrs Hanke's friends described how they pulled over and ran back to the VW to find the couple unconscious. They were with Mrs Hanke when she died at the scene.

Mr Hanke suffered serious head injuries and was taken to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, before being transferred back to a healthcare facility in Germany.

'Extremely upsetting'

He is still recovering from his injuries at a health centre and in a statement his daughter said: "He still talks about his wife and our mother as though she is still here and when I tell him [she has died] he reacts in a way as though he has only just found out.

"It's extremely upsetting," she said.

David Bottoms, a man who helped at the scene of the accident and lives nearby, told the inquest that the junction is known locally as an "accident blackspot".

The inquest also heard that there was a defect with one of the brakes on the lorry.

Lorry owner Nathan David Greene, 33, of Hillsborough, County Down, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, but when the case was sent to York Crown Court the prosecution offered no evidence and formal not guilty verdicts were entered.

The inquest continues.