Throttle-lock horror car could not brake

The crash scene on Broadgate, Chadderton

A FAMILY was hit by tragedy after their disability-adapted car failed to brake properly causing the vehicle to crash, killing three of its six passengers.

The seven-year-old daughter of the driver, Khin Thiri Myat Htin, along with the driver’s father, Than Tutt (86) and his sister-in-law, Naw Naw Khin (52) were killed when hand controls on the Cadillac SRX people carrier prevented the vehicle from slowing down.

An inquest heard yesterday how it crashed into a roundabout at the Gateway Crescent slip road, off the M60 in Chadderton in August, 2011.

Coroner Simon Nelson reached a road traffic collision conclusion after hearing evidence from Greater Manchester Police’s forensic collision team that indicated a fault had caused the car’s full throttle and brake mechanisms to activate at the same time and work against each other.

The driver, Dr Thaw Si Htin (54), his mother-in-law Ohn Myint (79) and a second sister-in-law, Maw Kin (54), survived.

Dr Htin and his family, originally from Burma but living in Ashton, were travelling on the M60 when he accelerated to pass a car in the middle lane before he realised he was unable to brake.

He told the inquest: “I could no longer control the car. It became an out-of-control monster.”

The vehicle and its passengers had joined the M60 at junction 19 after picking up young Thiri Htin from a Buddhist meditation centre in Salford.

Dr Htin said: “At first when I couldn’t brake it was OK because the car in front was travelling at the same speed.

“But then we came to a speed limit section and the car in front of me started to slow down.

“I exited the motorway to avoid crashing into the car in front.”

Dr Htin continued down the slip road pushing his hand-control brake lever but he was still unable to reduce the speed.

In an attempt to stop the car, he mounted a roundabout at Broadgate which instead served as a ramp sending the car up before crashing on to its nose and rolling on to its roof.

Dr Htin was issued with a British medical driving licence in 1996 which enabled him to drive with the use of hand controls.

He is unable to control a vehicle with his legs as a result of contracting poliomyelitis at the age of three which has caused a weakness in his lower limbs and has manifested in flaccid paralysis.

He purchased his Cadillac SRX from Stratstone in Birmingham and had hand controls fitted by Mobility Conversions Ltd in Salford before he was able to take the wheel.

It was confirmed by Police Constable Nicholas Avery, a forensic collision officer, that the “hand controls had been excluded as a cause” and that the “car’s throttle and brake were working against each other.”

In his conclusion, coroner Simon Nelson said: “I have no reason to doubt that those within the car were a close, loving and caring family unit, each of them with the highest ideals of charity.”

When asked by Mr Nelson if he would like to add anything at the end of his evidence, Dr Htin said: “I wish I had known how to stop the car.”