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Wendy Gay |
Driver left country after death crash
THE driver of a lorry which crushed a cyclist to death in King’s Cross has left the country and is not being pursued by police, an inquest has heard.
Lajos Iszaly, 40, was arrested after the accident in Euston Road in July last year in which Wendy Gay, 42, of Malden Road, Chalk Farm, died.
Ms Gay, a picture researcher known as “the Marilyn Monroe of the reading room” because of her blonde hair and love of retro fashions, died from her injuries when she was trapped between the lorry and the kerb.
Mr Iszaly cannot speak English and gave his version of what had happened through a translator. He was released on bail by police and was last seen at Victoria coach station heading back to his native Hungary.
As he had not been charged, no restrictions could be placed on his movement and he did not appear at Tuesday’s inquest at St Pancras coroner’s court.
Police accident investigator Sergeant Donald Simpson told the inquest that Mr Iszaly had said he had not seen Ms Gay as she tried to cross Euston Road from Mabledon Place.
Mr Iszaly told police: “At no time did I see the cyclist.”
Officers have studied CCTV and believe Ms Gay cycled into a blind spot on the right-hand side of the lorry – when it was likely that a safer route across the junction was on the left-hand side. Eye-witnesses said she had appeared “wobbly” and “disorientated” on “an old-fashioned bicycle”.
Ms Gay’s partner, Mark Kitchen-Smith, said: “My suggestion is that she was forced to go on the right hand side because of where the lorry was positioned.”
Police investigator Richard Clark said: “It is possible her options were reduced by the position of the lorry.”
Coroner Dr Andrew Reid is to write to Transport for London to ask for a review of safety at the junction.
Verdict: accidental death. |
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