MUM KILLED BY CAR SHE HIT WITH HAMMER Apr 13 2005
By Jeremy Armstrong
A MUM was run over and killed by her own car after she hit it with a hammer in frustration.
Alison Taylor, 36, started banging the engine of her Peugeot 405 when it would not start - triggering a chain of events caused by faults on the car, an inquest was told.
The blows set off the broken starter motor. Even though the ignition was switched off, the circuit was still live and the engine started. The car lurched forward because the handbrake was broken. Knocked off-balance, Alison reached out and grabbed the throttle cable, which made the 1.3tonne car accelerate over her.
Her mother Marjorie Rundle heard a terrifying screech as the wheels carried on spinning as it went down a grass embankment with Alison trapped underneath. Mrs Rundle told North Tyneside coroner's court: "She got out and I heard a sound like a washing machine on a very high spin.
"The car made a small jump forward followed by a much larger one.
"I couldn't see Alison at all, so I ran to the back of the car, which had gone down an embankment. There was smoke coming from the front and I saw Alison trapped underneath."
Mum-of-one Alison, of Camperdown, North Tyneside, had just dropped her son Daryl, 12, at a school meeting at Seaton Burn Community College. PC George Rutter said the ignition, handbrake and starter motor were all damaged, leading to September's tragedy. He added: "It is one of the strangest cases I've come across."
The family had planned to get rid of the car that week.
Alison's husband Kenneth and other relatives would not comment after the hearing. Verdict: accident.