THE importance of an emergency call made on the night two young boys were killed on the M56 was effectively “downgraded”, an inquest heard.
Kieran Coupe, seven, and his friend Guy Davies, six, of Runcorn, were killed instantly when they were hit by cars as they tried to cross on their toy scooters from the central reservation of the motorway at 7.20pm on October 24, 2007.
Yesterday, Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg said it seemed “utterly extraordinary” that despite the original 999 operator assessing the first call about the incident as Grade One, the highest priority, it was treated as Grade Five, the lowest, once those on the ground were informed.
Inspector Stephen Jones, of Cheshire Police, said there had effectively been a second risk assessment by those who were told there were people on the motorway.
Fortunately, this had no impact on the speed the incident was attended because of the actions of PC Simon Jordan, who coincidentally arrived seconds after the accident and attempted to slow traffic.
The coroner commended him saying he was “extremely impressed” with the officer.
The coroner said: “The incident deserved the most serious rather than the most benign treatment.
“It is almost like Chinese whispers as it goes through a whole lot of processes because the person on the ground assumes someone has just broken down on the hard shoulder.”
The case continues.
