The driver for a girls’ night out stopped her car on a motorway hard shoulder during a row about petrol money with tragic consequences, a court has been told.
Another vehicle came up from behind and, after veering off the carriageway, slammed into the back of the stationary car, a jury heard.
Teenager Chloe Palmer, 19, a passenger in the car which was on the hard shoulder of the M1, suffered a severe brain injury and died days later.
Another friend sitting on the back seat next to Chloe, Maisie O’Flynn suffered serious injuries, but survived the crash
The driver who made the decision to pull up on the motorway in the early hours after a Friday night out clubbing with her friends went on trial on Monday, November 30, 2020.
Christalla Amphlett, now 22, but who was 19 at the time, pleaded not guilty to a single charge of causing the death by dangerous driving of her friend, Chloe, in the early hours of November 25, 2017.
Opening the case at St Albans Crown Court, prosecutor Wayne Cleaver, told the jury that Miss Amphlett had been as responsible for the collision as the driver of the other vehicle that crashed into her Renault Twingo
“These are unusual circumstances since, as you will have appreciated, at the time of the collision her car was not moving. Nevertheless, the prosecution case is that she was driving; that driving was dangerous; and it was a contributory cause of the collision,” he said.
He went on: “In order for the prosecution to prove the case against her we need only prove that her dangerous driving was a cause of Chloe’s death. It is not necessary to prove that her dangerous driving was the only cause of the collision, nor even the principal or substantial cause.”
He went on: “Miss Amphlett had created dangerous conditions by deliberately stopping the car where she did. Those conditions became increasingly dangerous the longer the car remained there.”
Continuing his outline he said it was the prosecution’s case that her driving was a contributory factor in the chain of events leading to the fatal collision.
Mr Cleaver said her car had been parked on the northbound hard shoulder of the motorway, just south of Junction 6 at Bricket Wood in Hertfordshire.
He said it was close to the inside lane without any illumination or hazard lights flashing.
In addition, he said Miss Amphlett had opened her door and was sitting with her legs outside the car, prompting one motorists to sound his horn and others to swerve to avoid her car.
Seventeen minutes after stopping on the hard shoulder an Isuzu D-Max driven by Bradley Lane careered off the road and crashed into the rear of the Twingo
Mr Cleaver said it was likely Lane had fallen asleep at the wheel of his vehicle and he said had earlier pleaded guilty to “various charges reflecting his responsibility” and was not before the court.
He then told how on Friday, November 24, 2017 Miss Amphlett had gone out “clubbing” with a group of girlfriends to the “Hide Out” club in Watford town centre.
Mr Cleaver told the court “Christalla Amphlett of Symphony Close, Edgware was the “designated driver” and at the end of the evening she was to drive her friends back home.
Those friends, the court was told, were Chloe Palmer, Maisie O’Flynn and Keziah Knight.
They set off from the club in at about 3:30am and headed north up the M1 towards St Albans so that Miss O’Flynn could be dropped off first.
Mr Cleaver said “On route Christalla and Maisie started arguing about something as trifling as petrol money. Miss Amphlett had agreed to make a detour to St Albans to drop off Maisie and she was low on petrol. The passengers were drunk and were beginning to annoy the driver.
“Such was her irritation that she pulled over onto the hard shoulder of the M1 where she remained at a standstill for a few minutes.”
The journey resumed, but further along the motorway the court was told, the defendant again pulled over onto the hard shoulder and stopped the car after the argument about petrol money had started up again.
He said: “it seems her car didn’t have much petrol and she wanted petrol money; she hadn’t realised she was low on petrol.”
Mr Cleaver continued: “The arguing between these young women continued.”
He said the car remained stationary on the hard shoulder of the motorway for about 17 minutes.
During that time the court was told the front seat passenger, Kezia Knight then 19, got out of the car and sat on the metal safety barrier.
Chloe and Maisie stayed seated in the back.
“Miss Amphlett remained in the driver’s seat, but opened the driver’s door onto the motorway and sat sideways facing the road with her feet outside of the vehicle,” said Mr Cleaver.
He said she started the engine a few times, but switched it off again. The car lights were not illuminated and he said no hazard warning lights were displayed.
Another motorist sounded his horn to indicate the danger being caused. Motorists travelling along the carriageway swerved to avoid her car dangerously parked in the position where it was, said Mr Cleaver
The jury then heard the Renault was still stationary on the hard shoulder when Bradley Lane’s vehicle crashed into it it’s rear off side, the same side where Chloe was sitting in the back seat
“For whatever reason his vehicle traversed the carriageway and collided at speed with the rear off side of Miss Amphlett s stationary car – the very part of the car where Chloe was sitting. It was that collision which caused the untimely and tragic death of Chloe and resulted in serious injures to Maisie and Miss Amphlett”
Mr Cleaver told the jury that stopping the car in that position and in those circumstances was dangerous and her driving had fallen “far below the standard to be expected of a competent and careful driver.”
Chloe Palmer who lived with her family in Finchley, North London was removed from the rear of the Renault and initially taken to Watford General Hospital, before being transferred to St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington.
She had sustained pulmonary contusion, a complex pelvic fracture, fracture to the left leg, and an acute brain injury. She underwent intensive surgical intervention, but the injures to her brain were so severe that she died on December 2017.
The cause of Chole’s death was certified as Hypoxic Brain Injury due to Multiple Traumatic Injuries.
Maisie O’Flynn sustained injuries, as did Miss Amphlett, but both survived.
Mr Cleaver said positioning of the defendant’s car on the hard shoulder of the M1 created the conditions which allowed the fatal collision to occur.
Stopping where she had, he said was by its very nature, dangerous.
He said hard shoulders of motorways were only to be used in circumstances where it was necessary and unavoidable.
“It is to be used only in the case of genuine emergencies. This was not such a case,” he said.
He said the badly positioned car with its lights off on a partially unlit section of the motorway meant there was an increased risk of a collision.
Sitting with her legs out of the car and her door open onto the near side lane had, he said, created an obvious hazard, prompting motorists to sound their horns and take “evasive action.”
The court was told when the defendant was interviewed under caution in August 2018 she gave a prepared statement to the effect that she was the designated driver that night.
She said remembered an argument in the car and thought it would be safer to pull over and went on: ““Looking back I don’t believe that my driving was careless or dangerous or that my driving was a cause of the collision”
He said the defendant seemed to be suggesting that there was a genuine emergency necessitating that she had no choice other to stop the car.
“In reality, there was no such emergency. The bickering in the car was of her own making. She took a bad decision to stop where she did without any regard for the potential consequences.”
Giving evidence, Keziah Knight told the jury she had gone to the club that night with Miss Amphlett and Chloe intending to meet Maisie and other friends who said they would be there.
She said at the end of the night the plan was to return to Chloe’s home in Finchley where she and the defendant were going to sleep over.
However, she said the plans changed at the end of the night when it was realised that Maisie was unable to get back to St Albans.
As a result, she said Maisie got into Christalla Amphlett’s car and it was decided she would be driven home to St Albans.
Miss Knight told the jury that when they got on the M1, an argument broke out over petrol money the defendant said she needed.
“She asked for petrol money and Maisie said she didn’t have any money to give and so it just went back and forth” Miss Knight told the court.
Miss Knight said the defendant was annoyed and stopped the car on the hard shoulder.
After a few minutes she said things calmed down and they moved off once more, but she said the argument between the defendant and Maisie over petrol money started up once again.
“The argument got more intense and we pulled over again. All our voices were going over each other.”
Once they had stopped she said the defendant began shouting at them all to get out of her car.
Miss Knight said after five or 10 minutes she got out of the vehicle and sat on the metal crash barrier where she phoned her mother and smoked a cigarette.
She said Chloe and Maisie remained in the car on the back seat and she told the jury “It looked like they were still arguing. Christalla was facing back towards them.
“Chloe texted me from the car saying Christalla was still fuming,” she said.
She then told the court: “Literally, after Chloe sent me the text about Christalla, l looked up to see what she was doing. As I looked up, the truck came and went straight into the back of the car.”
Case proceeding
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