Robert Nelson Darwin

1947 - 1972  (25 years)

Worthing Gazette 15 Nov 1972

LORRY DRIVER KILLED IN HORROR CRASH
A lorry driver was crushed to death in the cab of his vehicle on the Worthing to Arundel A27 road near Swandean Hospital at lunchtime on Monday. It is understood that when his articulated lorry, carrying 20 tons of sheet steel, was pulled up at temporary traffic lights, the steel shot forward, pinning the driver in his cab and killing him almost instantly.
Nearby residents who rushed from their homes on hearing the crash were powerless to move the man. Police, firemen and ambulancemen found their equipment inadequate to tackle the massive weight of metal pinning the driver down. Rescue operations were held up until the arrival of a crane from Steyning to lift the steel off the lorry.
Sheets of steel were scattered on the road surface and traffic was diverted.
Yesterday (Tuesday) the driver was named as Robert Nelson Darwin, aged 25 and single, of 15 Arnewood Road, Bournemouth.
It was an hour and a half after the accident before the body was finally removed by firemen from the cab. In the meantime, a doctor who had been called found the driver already dead.
During the operations to recover the driver's body, all traffic was diverted from the area, from the east at Offington corner and from the west at Ivydore Avenue to Littlehampton Road in each case.
The accident took place near temporary traffic lights just outside the hospital where workmen with heavy equipment had been resurfacing the roadway.
The facts have been reported to the coroner and an inquest is to be held.

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