Three died as driver 'floored' his car's accelerator pedal

'MISTAKE' SAW AUDI GO FROM 25MPH TO 55MPH IN FIVE SECONDS

- By GLYN BELLIS

AN 81-year-old man who pressed his car’s accelerator by mistake had gone from 25mph to 55mph in the five seconds before a horror collision which killed him and a couple, an inquest heard today.

Humphrey Pickering, of Colwyn Bay, had pressed the accelerator pedal of his automatic Audi A8 about three times within those final seconds before the horror crash at Beaumaris, in Anglesey, last summer, a police collision investigator said.

Meilir Hywel told the inquest at Caernarfon that CCTV showed no brake lights were activated as the powerful grey car reached 55mph on the approach to a sharp right-hand bend.

Recently retired vicar Stephen Burch, of Alcester, Warwickshire, and his wife Katherine, a retired charity worker, who were both aged 65, were walking through the popular tourist town when they were struck by the car in August last year.