On Wednesday, , Labour MP for Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney, is to
introduce a 10-minute Rule Bill to amend the Road Traffic Act
1988. Here he explains the background.
The case is quite delicate and I have discussed with previous
Government Ministers and Shadow Ministers.
In August 2017, a 22-month-old little girl Pearl Melody Black
from my constituency of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney was killed
whilst walking with her father and brother to the park. Pearl was
killed by an unoccupied vehicle that rolled from a private drive
in Merthyr Tydfil down a hill, crashing into a wall that
subsequently crushed her and injured her father and sibling.
Since 2017, officers from the Serious Collision Unit of South
Wales Police have worked tirelessly putting a case together for
the driver of the vehicle to be held accountable. In short, all
tests concluded that the car was mechanically sound and that it
rolled because the handbrake was not fully engaged, and the
automatic transmission not fully placed into park.
The case was sent to the CPS in March 2018 and has been worked on
by their London office as well as an independent QC, hired by the
CPS to consult. Everyone was hopeful of a conviction under the
‘Death by Dangerous Driving’ category. In June 2018, the CPS
stated that they were unable to send the case to court, as a
glitch in the law states that the vehicle has to be on a public
road to make a prosecution under this legislation.
Even though Pearl was killed on a public road, the fact that the
vehicle started its descent from a private drive has allowed the
driver of the car to escape any kind of conviction.
Over the 2 years, I have been meeting with Pearl’s parents, Gemma
and Paul to look at what could be done to change legislation so
that other families do not face this grave injustice in future.
The inquest into Pearl’s death was heard in October and the
outcome was accidental death; however, with the encouragement of
both the Police and the CPS, Pearl’s parents want to get this law
changed. Mr & Mrs Black acknowledge, it won’t help bring
justice for Pearl, but if this law can be changed to prevent this
injustice happening again, it may provide some comfort.
This shocking and tragic case is by no means an isolated one, and
I know that other MPs have raised similar incidents before, where
justice for driving offences has been evaded because of this
anomaly in the law, which we must correct urgently to prevent any
such tragedy from happening again.
There is no current or planned transport bill that could provide
a vehicle to make this change. I am therefore hoping to bring
this Bill in to at the very least start making some progress.
