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Grandmother Diane Webb hurt in head-on crash at spot where sister died on Brielle Way, Sheppey

00:01, 28 July 2016

A grandmother is being treated for serious ankle and shoulder injuries after being trapped in a horror car crash - at the same spot her sister was killed 10 years ago.

Diane Webb, 56, who works in the cafe at Morrisons supermarket, was being driven by her daughter Tara Ullah, 31, when their VW Polo was in a head-on collision in Brielle Way near West Street, Blue Town, on Saturday evening.

It was the same place Mrs Webb’s sister Carol Whittaker and two others died in a similar crash in June 2006.

Diane Webb and daughter Tara Ullah, who were caught in the Brielle Way head-on crash, pictured on Tara's wedding day
Diane Webb and daughter Tara Ullah, who were caught in the Brielle Way head-on crash, pictured on Tara's wedding day

Mrs Ullah had been driving the pair home after collecting a McDonald’s meal for the family when the crash happened just after 6pm. The mobile hairdresser said: “I came round the bend and there was a car on my side of the road.

“I braked but there was nowhere I could go and we crashed. There was a big bang and both of the car’s air bags went off.

“As soon as everything stopped I could tell my mum was injured and jumped out of the car to open her door.

“But someone else got there before me. At first it wouldn’t open.

“Another person climbed into the back to support my mum’s neck.

The remains of the VW Polo
The remains of the VW Polo

“I guess the adrenalin kicked in because all I felt at the time was a pain in my hips.

“Later, everything started hurting and I had to sit down by the side of the road.”

Firefighters used hydraulic cutting gear to remove the roof to free Mrs Webb, a mum of two from High Street, Queenborough.

She was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital’s emergency department with a damaged ankle and broken shoulder.

Doctors have transfered Mrs Webb to King’s College Hospital, London, for further treatment.

Her daughter, from North Road, Queenborough, was also taken to hospital with whiplash injuries but released after treatment.

She also suffered cuts and bruises.

“I am a learner driver and was driving with my mum to gain confidence. Now I’m really worried about getting in a car again” - Mrs Ullah

Mrs Ullah has four children – Sol, nine, Marshall, five, Daisy, three, and four-month-old Cody.

She said: “I am just so grateful we didn’t have any of the children in the car.

“I am a learner driver and was driving with my mum to gain confidence.

“Now I’m really worried about getting in a car again.”

She added: “I’d like to thank all the emergency services, the people who stopped and helped at the scene and also to everyone for their kind comments on Facebook.”

Kent Fire and Rescue’s crew manager Paul Schembri warned drivers: “We often have calls to that stretch of the road.

“Motorists must learn to slow down and keep to the right side of the road.”

A 59-year-old man from Germany in a black Vauxhall Corsa hire car was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and causing serious injury.

Following the triple fatal crash in 2006, Luke Bootes, then 18, formerly of Hawthorne Avenue, Sheerness, was jailed for nine years after pleading guilty at Maidstone Crown Court in 2007 to causing the death of three women.

The court heard how Carol Whittaker, Jean Wigglesworth and Annie Riley – also known as Phyllis Paolillo – died when Bootes crashed a stolen Jaguar into their Peugeot on June 10, 2006.

The women, all in their 50s, had been on a day out with Miss Whittaker’s ex-husband Brian and their one-year-old grandson.

The grandson had been dropped off just minutes before the crash.

Bootes had no driving licence, had drunk six pints of lager and had taken the car to impress his girlfriend.

He was caught by a police dog after trying to run away from the scene.

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