‘Fiercely independent’ 84-year-old killed on road she campaigned to make safer
An 84-year-old described as "fiercely independent" died when her car left a road and travelled down the embankment on Sunday morning (October 1). Isobel Hughes had campaigned to make the same road, the A531 between her home in Madeley Heath and Chorlton, Cheshire, safer.
She was discovered in the overturned vehicle on Sunday morning near Bowsey Wood. Emergency services were called to the spot at around 7.15am, opposite the T-junction with Heighley Castle Way, on which Mrs Hughes lived, alone.
She was found inside her vehicle, had to be cut free, and died as paramedics battled to save her. Miles Flanagan, 52, who with his wife Sue, 48, was a close friend of Mrs Hughes’, said he had last seen her on Friday night, when she said she would see the couple “after the weekend”, Stoke-on-Trent Live reports[1].
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He added: “I just read into that that she was going away for the weekend, as she had friends on the other side of Stafford.”
Staffordshire Police have confirmed they had received no missing person reports before the discovery of Mrs Hughes’ white Suzuki Splash. But it is understood part of the police investigation will focus on how long the vehicle may have been at the crash site, which is not visible from the road.
Mr Flanagan described his friend as someone with “a cheeky smile and a sparkle in her eye”, and a very active member of the community, often meeting friends in the Madeley Centre in the village. She had been a First Responder, and a fundraiser for the Midlands Air Ambulance.
He added: “She was a fiercely independent woman. She always spent her time out of the house, she was rarely in. She’d go round checking all the batteries in the community defibrillators, and loved visiting the local artisan markets.”
Mr Flanagan said she had been keenly concerned with road safety in the area, particularly the speed at which cars would drive in the stretch out of the village before the 60mph limit section began.
He added “She’d been campaigning for years to have the limit reduced because it isn’t felt that the road is really wide enough for two cars.”
Mrs Hughes was born in Scotland, and after losing her parents at an early age, lived with her aunt close to Colliston Castle, where her aunt worked in the kitchens. “Whenever she went to the fishmongers she would bring us back Arbroath smokies,” Mr Flanagan said.
Mrs Hughes was widely travelled, spending summers as a teenager climbing and helping out in hostels in North Wales, spending time with relatives in Canada and living for a time with her husband Bob in Jakarta, Indonesia. She was said to have cured her fear of flying by travelling to far-flung places.
In Indonesia and back in the UK, she worked in hospitals, and worked until her retirement at the Nuffield Hospital down the road in Newcastle. After retiring she founded the Madeley First Responders.
She suffered a personal tragedy in 2010 when her son Kevin, then 34, died after a battle with alcoholism. She is understood to be survived by a grandson, 18, and her husband, from whom she is separated, is believed to live in Canada.
Mrs Hughes was a keen dog lover, who had had two giant schnauzers with which she would regularly visit Crufts.
Mr Flanagan said it was a bitter irony that someone as concerned as she was with the safety of the road should have died in an accident on it.
He added: “No-one would have seen her car from the road. A couple of years ago someone else went down that embankment as well. It must be around 30ft down the drop. Surely now after someone’s died there, something needs to be done about that junction.”
Cllr David Williams, highways cabinet member for Staffordshire County Council, which is responsible for the upkeep and safety of the A531, said: "We are sorry to hear of this tragic incident, and our thoughts are with Isobel’s family and friends at this sad time. We have not received any reports of concerns about this stretch of road in the last few years, however a police investigation is under way and we will await the outcome of that and any recommendations arising from any coroner’s inquest following this incident."
A spokesman for the West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “On arrival, crews found one car had been involved in a collision and had ended up on its roof. The driver, a woman, was in a life-threatening condition.
“Fire colleagues assisted with extricating her from the car and ambulance staff immediately began administering advanced life support.
“Sadly, despite everyone’s best efforts, the woman could not be saved and she was confirmed dead at the scene.”
A Staffordshire Police spokeswoman added Mrs Hughes’ next-of-kin have been informed of her death. The spokeswoman added: “We are keen to speak to anyone with CCTV or dashcam footage from the area, or those with any information which could help collision investigators.”
Anyone with information should call Staffordshire Police on101 and quote incident 175 of October 1. They can also email the collision investigation team at [email protected]
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References
- ^ Stoke-on-Trent Live reports (www.stokesentinel.co.uk)
- ^ Council presses ahead with possible tip closures in Cheshire towns (www.cheshire-live.co.uk)
- ^ The people in Cheshire who will tell you they 'know' the Earth is flat (www.cheshire-live.co.uk)
- ^ Sign up for CheshireLive email direct to your inbox here (www.cheshire-live.co.uk)