Inquest into death of mum killed by wheel from unregistered Donegal tanker adjourned

An inquest into the death of a mother-of-one who was killed after a wheel came off a lorry owned by a Donegal haulage company has been adjourned. 

Shauna McDevitt, 47, was killed after the Hyundai Tucson being driven by her partner was struck by a wheel that became separated from a tanker lorry, owned by Walter Reilly & Sons Limited - on the A6 near Toomebridge on April 10, 2022.

Ms McDevitt was travelling back home to Derry from a Little Mix concert in Belfast when the tragedy occurred. 

The inquest heard that the tanker in question was not properly registered and the company has since had its haulage licence revoked. 

On Friday afternoon, Ms Niamh Horscroft BL, counsel to the coroner, told the inquest at Coleraine courthouse that an investigating officer from the PSNI, who was due to give evidence, was unable to attend. 

Ms Horscfoft said that it would be “prudent to await that evidence”.

Coroner Louisa Fee said it was important for her to understand the steps take by the police at the scene. Coroner Fee said she was satisfied as to the reason the member could not attend.

“It is important that the inquest hears from her,” she said, adding that it was an “unfortunate situation, but not one that was avoidable”.

The inquest was adjourned as part-heard and the coroner said she hoped that it would result in a “relatively short time’. 

The inquest heard that the tanker was purchased in February 2021 from the Netherlands and did not have a certificate of roadworthiness at the time. Neither the Road Safety Authority of the Driver & Vehicle Agency had a record of the tanker on their respective databases. 

Giving evidence to the inquest, Mr Ivor Reilly, a company director, said he was “waiting on paperwork from the Netherlands”.

Asked by Ms Horscroft if he was concerned that he had not received this paperwork having bought the tanker over a year previously, Mr Reilly said he was not concerned as it was “Covid times”.

He said he did not get a test on the vehicle as this could not be done without a valid registration document. 

He accepted evidence by a senior scientific officer that the wheel becoming detached would not have happened instantaneously and would have been a gradual process. He told the inquest that this was the only vehicle he had that did not have the correct registration documentation in place.

At the time of the collision, the lorry was travelling between 54-56mph, while the speed limit for such vehicles at the location in question is 50mph. The speed was not said to be directly contributing to the incident, although a higher speed would consume bearing length at a faster rate. 

The tanker was overweight at the time, but this was said to be not directly contributing to the collision, albeit higher loads would also consume bearing length at a faster rate. 

A senior scientific officer from Forensic Science Northern Ireland told how he attended the scene of the collision in the early hours of April 11, 2022. He said the lorry and tanker were later weighed and the digital tachograph downloaded.

He confirmed that an examination of the lorry’s tractor unit and tanker took place. He outlined that the wheel assembly on the near side of the tanker’s second axle was missing.

An engine malfunction light was illuminated, but this was said not to have been a contributing factor. The defects identified in the Scania were “not contributing factors to the collision”, an inspector found.

The only defect that could be directly linked to the collision was the missing wheel assembly, the inquest heard.

Driver Mark Atkinson recalled “just a normal journey” to Belfast and “nothing seemed out of the ordinary”. He said he was in the upper deck of the ferry where he got informed that he was needed on the lower deck.

When told that his vehicle had been involved in a fatal collision, he said it was “just devastating”.

He said there was “no noise, no bang” to alert him to the collision and a driver from the same company who was following around a minute behind did not notice anything untoward on his journey. 

Mr Atkinson told the inquest that he did not make a note of his walk-around check of the vehicle before leaving the base in Ballybofey. He said he worked for the company until March of this year until its haulage licence was revoked.  

Mr Reilly told investigators in an interview that the company was set up in 1962 and “this is the first time there was ever a fatality in 60-odd years of business”.

He said he was “in practice” the transport manager of the company - which employed seven drivers and had a fleet of eight tractor units and around 20 trailers - at the time, even though his elderly father had the title of being transport manager.

Mr Reilly told Ms Horscroft that there was refurbishment work done to the trailer in question and some bearings were refitted.

Coroner Fee interjected and asked if Mr Reilly was present when the parts were disassembled and he said he was not. The coroner said Mr Reilly, therefore, could not be in a position to give evidence as to the state of the bearings.

Earlier this year, Walter Reilly & Sons Limited had its international road haulage operator licence revoked by the Minister for Transport.  An appeal against that decision was rejected by Judge Ciaran Liddy at Letterkenny District Court, a hearing which was attended by members of Ms McDevitt’s family.

The licence was withdrawn on grounds including serious concerns for road safety arising from convictions and penalties for infringements of road transport regulations in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Great Britain.

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In May 2024, at Antrim Magistrates Court, lorry owner Ivor Reilly, of Cappry, Ballybofey pleaded guilty to charges of: using a vehicle in a dangerous condition; using a vehicle which exceeded the maximum permitted weight; having a defective light; and failing to maintain a vehicle.

Driver Mark Atkinson, of Dromore Lodge, Rockcorry, Co Monaghan, pleaded guilty to using a vehicle in a dangerous condition, using a vehicle which exceeded the maximum permitted weight and having a defective light.

A defence barrister said there was “no direct blame” on the wheel coming off to the defendants and District Judge Nigel Broderick said the case was “tragic”. Judge Broderick said he had to bear in mind that the charges “did not provide any causal link to her very sad demise” and he fined Reilly £3,500 with Atkinson fined £1,700.