Motorhome dogs killed by lorry

Upsetting story. Hope its not a Funster

http://www.banburyguardian.co.uk/news/local-news/jail-and-ban-after-dogs-killed-in-crash-1-6489806

 

sounds like he was on the Phone , or having a sandwich, or some such activity; if a following driver dropped back because of his erratic driving then it was not a momentary lapse.
a sad event, both he and the occupants of the motorhome were fortunate it was not a lot worse.

 

I remember this at the time, it was discused on this forum.
No doubt someone will post a link back to the thread

 

http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/motorhome-accident.75280/#post-880651

 

Its good to hear that bad driving doesn't go unpunished.

 

£2000 of cash in it too!

 

Although justice is served it not bring back the dogs or negate the terrible ordeal that the women and their dogs suffered. They are well known on the dog show circuit and like us and many others used their motorhome for transport to shows etc. It made everyone think about what would you do if you broke down on a motorway in your MH - the advice is to leave your vehicle and take refuge but with a lot of dogs on board, in freezing conditions, in the middle of the night that may be a very difficult decision. In this case there was also a problem with recovery of their MH and they had been waiting some time because they needed specialist recovery because of the weight of the MH.

Kath

 

I remember this well as has been said the ladies in question are well known on the dog show circuit.
As a result of this terrible incident many of us that use motorhomes for shows or just for fun changed our recovery company ! The recovery company had an issue with taking the dogs .
I broke down last year with my Newfoundland in my van - the van was not drivable due to a major diesel leak . We were very lucky as if it had been petrol it would have gone up !! When the recovery truck eventually got there he wouldn't take my dog instead they wanted me to leave him in the van at an angle on the recovery truck with diesel pouring out of it ! After a huge argument and many tears he begrudgingly agreed to take him !
Please make sure that your recovery company caters for your dogs !
The company in question was one of the 3 letter major ones who don't dress in yellow !!!!

 

what an horrific scene, shocked at how that motorhome is reduced to not much more than matchwood..
the young lady must have had a guardian angel watching over her that day to survive that..

 

Thanks Kath, much appreciate the info. Joy

 

The driver of the MH is well known to us also. A few salient points as not reported in the Daily Fail, or by the hoards of Facebook Legal Beagles:

The driver of the MH thought (wrongly) her 5t tag axel MH was covered by her RAC cover she had on her car (only covers up to 3.5t). Therefore, even though she wasn't covered, RAC had to dispatch a recovery vehicle capable of recovering an HGV. She had a dozen(?) crated dogs in the MH - where do you expect the RAC driver to put them ? In his van (which is already full) ... and on the hard shoulder ? Risk remains the same.
She was told to either keep them crated in the MH, of move the crates to the "safe" side of the armco. She took the decision to keep them in the MH, and put herself in danger by staying in the vehicle herself.

With all recovery companies, it's up the driver whether he/she takes dog(s) in the cab or not. If not, then they either have to stay in the customers vehicle, or, the customer has to make other arrangements.

 

We often see motorhome garages modified to transport dogs. Extra windows on the garage doors are the usual giveaway.
Now, bearing in mind most accidents are rear end shunts and the fact motorhome bodies don't give any collision protection, do you REALLY want to keep anything living back there?

 

Very good points about rear end shunts . We have caging for our dogs on both sides of the garage in our MH. However when we are travelling we never let me travel in the garage preferring them in the main body with us .

 

When people say that to my husband his reply is......'if my guardian angel had been doing his job properly The crash wouldn't have happened. He has a point I can't argue with!

The ordeal is not over for her. Her pain and discomfort will probably get worse as she ages. Not too mention the trauma. Terrible tragedy.

 

he does have a point of course, on the other hand, looking at the wreckage, something certainly saved her life that day..

i see from the link to the other thread that this happened some time ago, can anyone tell us how the young lady is now and how she's recovering?