High Sheriff swept away by flood waters after no 'road closed' signs were put out, husband tells inquest
A former High Sheriff was swept away by flood waters after no “road closed” signs were put out to warn of the danger, her husband has told an inquest.
Annie Hall, 69, died after getting out of her car, when the vehicle became stranded in floodwater in November 2019 while she tried to drive home to Ashford-in-the-Water, near Bakewell, in the Derbyshire Peak District.
Mrs Hall who served as Derbyshire’s High Sheriff in 2017, and her husband, Michael were forced to find an alternative route after the main A6 road was cut off by flooding.
Mr Hall told the pre-inquest hearing there were "no 'Road closed' signs" that he could see and added that his wife had spoken to a police officer in the run-up to the incident, to ask about road conditions.
Mr Hall told the pre-inquest hearing: “To give you some idea of the activity, I said to my wife 'Slow down, the water is going to be over the bonnet' - and at that point it was too late, we were in the flow of water."
He told the coroner: "I am not here to look for a guilty party, I am here to make sure it doesn't happen again.”
Peter Nieto, area coroner for Derby and Derbyshire said the aim of the hearing was to identify what key information and witness testimony the final inquest would need in order "to have as in-depth an investigation into the death as we can".
He said he would hear from sources shedding light on who was "responsible for the planning the response" to flooding emergencies.
A pathologist previously listed Mrs Hall's cause of death as drowning.
A full inquest date will be set in due course, the coroner said.
