FamilyA teenage footballer and his father drowned in a canal after the car they were test driving hit a telegraph pole and “flew off the road” an inquest was told.
Cameron Walsh, 16, and his father, David Walsh, 40, died on 6 January when a Mercedes GLC 300 went into Louth Canal close to Tetney Lock, near Grimsby.
Eyewitness Roberta Smith made a 999 call at 13:48 GMT to report that a car with people inside had “gone into a dike” after it “appeared to be airborne”, the inquest heard.
Assistant coroner for Greater Lincolnshire Marianne Johnson concluded the father and son died in a road traffic collision and said she would file a prevention of future deaths report.
Mr Walsh hired the hybrid, automatic Mercedes and was travelling with his son along Tetney Lock Road when it left the road and entered the canal.
On arrival, emergency services said the car was upside down and “fully submerged” apart from the two rear wheels.
Mr Walsh was removed from the car by fire crews at 14:18 and Cameron at 14:23.
Ambulance crews were sent to the incident as well as Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance.
Dr Ewan Barron, an emergency medical consultant who attended, said Mr Walsh and Cameron had been under water for a “prolonged time of 40 to 45 minutes”.
Both were pronounced dead at 14:58 after paramedics had made resuscitation attempts but there were “no signs of life”, the court heard.
‘Lost control’
In a statement read to the court, a friend of Cameron’s said they received a Snapchat message from him telling “how much his dad liked the car” they were test driving and that they were “taking it down backroads”.
The inquest also heard Cameron’s girlfriend received a Snapchat photo from him at 13:28 which showed Mr Walsh in the driver’s seat.
PC Nick Prestwich, collision investigator with Lincolnshire Police, said he was “not able to say definitively” who was driving the car at the time of the crash.
He told the court the vehicle had “lost control and entered the verge adjacent to the canal” and “hit a telegraph pole which caused the vehicle to rotate”.
Ms Johnson said on the “balance of probabilities” it was Mr Walsh driving at the time of the collision.
The inquest heard there was no mechanical or related defect of the vehicle.
PC Prestwich confirmed there was a sign on the stretch of road with a speed limit of 60mph (96km/h) warning drivers it was “undulated and uneven”.
“It’s my belief that the car was driven too fast for the road conditions,” he said.
Richard Fenwick, head of highways asset and local management services at Lincolnshire County Council, confirmed the car would have driven past a warning sign about 650ft (200m) before the location of the crash.
He said the warning signs were “appropriate” and there were “no immediate works required”.
A family tribute read out at the inquest described the father and son as “two beautiful people” who were “full of life”.
Cameron, who played for Grimsby Town’s academy team, and Mr Walsh were described by the League Two side as “part of the family”.
Ms Johnson confirmed she would send a prevention of future deaths report to Lincolnshire County Council.
