Witness plea over tragic van smash

They believe the man was the first driver to come across the collision between a lorry and a van on Blyth Road, Tickhill, on Thursday afternoon.

Van driver Peter Kirsopp, aged 49, was killed in the crash and his passenger seriously injured.

An inquest into Mr Kirsopp’s death was opened yesterday for his widow, Joy, to give evidence of identification.

Mrs Kirsopp, 47, of Oxford Street, Rossington, said her husband was a fencing erector who had been working on a government contract in Leicester for two months.

He had been leaving for work each day at 5.30am in a Ford Transit van owned by fencing firm FCY and he was the only driver.

He usually arrived home at 5.30pm but last Thursday police informed the family that Mr Kirsopp had died in a collision with a Mercedes articulated lorry between Harworth and Tickhill as he made his way home.

Pc Paul Levitt said the van was extensively damaged and it was almost three hours before Mr Kirsopp’s body could be removed. And Pc Wayne Richardson appealed for further witnesses to come forward.

He said: “We are particularly keen to speak to a man who stopped at the scene and may have been the first witness, who left without furnishing his details.

“We would be grateful if anyone who knows this man, or who saw the Ford Transit flatback travelling north at about 4.40pm on September 27, would come forward.”

Doncaster Coroner Stanley Hooper adjourned the inquest until next year to await a collision investigation report and granted Mrs Kirsopp a cremation order.