Truckers tried to rescue teen from burning car (From Oxford Mail)

Truckers tried to rescue teen from burning car

12:00pm Friday 11th December 2009 in

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A TEARFUL lorry driver has told how there was nothing more he could do to save a Witney teenager from a burning car on the M40.

Aaron Waller, 18, was driving home from Southend-on-Sea, in Essex, with his friend Nathan Clark when his car left the M40 between junctions three and four and hit a tree.

The former Queen’s Dyke Primary School and Henry Box secondary school pupil died at the scene of the accident on September 19 from extensive injuries, although Mr Clark, escaped.

Lorry driver Michael Bradford told an inquest into the death on Wednesday: “I do feel guilty about not being able to get the driver out of the car, but we did try so hard. There was nothing else we could do.”

Paul Westwood, another HGV driver at the scene, saw Mr Waller’s car overtake him perfectly before it left the carriageway and drove almost in a straight line into a tree.

Mr Westwood and Mr Bradford pulled over and tried to open the car doors as a fire started in the engine. They used a fire extinguisher to smash the passenger windows and release Mr Clark. They tried to get Mr Waller out of the driver’s window but could not. Just 20 seconds after they pulled Mr Clark out, the car was engulfed in flames.

Buckinghamshire coroner Richard Hulett said the lorry drivers deserved “a vote of thanks for the efforts they made”.

He said the most likely cause was fatigue, and recorded a verdict of accidental death.