Sudden pain attack caused Doncaster woman to fatally veer into path of lorry

Moira Begbie, aged 47, was killed when the car she was driving collided with a lorry.

Doncaster Coroners’ Court was told that in the weeks leading up to her death, Moira Begbie, of Harrogate Drive, Denaby, had been unwell and was suffering from severe chest and stomach pains.

The 47-year-old warehouse operative was rushed to Rotherham District General Hospital complaining of chest pains just six days before the fatal collision.

But medics were unable to find any underlying cause for her pain and she was discharged.

Carol Rawling, who was Ms Begbie’s partner for 27 years, told the inquest that on the morning of the collision on December 5 last year she was feeling unwell once again.

“She said she wasn’t feeling good, and was only able to manage half her breakfast,” Ms Rawling said.

Shortly after arriving at work Ms Begbie was ‘violently sick’ and left to return home, insisting to her employer that she was well enough to drive.

Ms Begbie was described as a ‘good driver’ with a clean license and a no-claims bonus of more than 20 years.

She initially travelled along Sheffield Road, which is a single carriageway, towards Warmsworth without any problems.

But Christopher Barker, the driver travelling directly behind Ms Begbie, said her vehicle ‘suddenly veered’ into the wrong lane and into the path of an oncoming HGV.

Mr Barker told the court: “It swerved extremely quickly then it appeared at the very last second before impact that it tried to readjust out of the way.”

But despite Ms Begbie’s apparent efforts to move out of the path of the lorry, she collided with the vehicle seconds later.

Mr Barker immediately alerted the emergency services.

But consultant pathologist Suzanne Rogers confirmed Ms Begbie would have ‘died instantly’ on impact.

A post-mortem conducted by Dr Rogers revealed that at the time of her death Ms Begbie was suffering from undiagnosed gallstones which ‘accounted for the symptoms’ she had been presenting with.

Senior Coroner Nicola Mundy said she believed a ‘sudden onset of pain’ caused by her condition led to Ms Begbie momentarily losing control of her vehicle and delivered a verdict of road traffic collision.