the times | Saturday August 1 2020 2GM 23
News
Fatal crash student warns
about smart motorways
Emma YeomansA student has warned of the dangers of
smart motorways after he was seriously
injured in a crash that killed his friend.
Mohammed Bhaimia suffered frac-
tures and damage to his lung and liver
in the crash on the M1 near Dunstable,
Bedfordshire, when a lorry driver
ploughed into the broken-down car in
which he was a passenger. The vehicle
was stationary on the hard shoulder,
which was an active lane.
His friend, Zahir Ahmed, also a pas-
senger, was killed and three others were
seriously injured.
There have been serious concerns
about the safety of smart motorways.
The BBC programme Panorama found
this year that 38 people had been killed
on them in the past five years and there
had been a rise in near misses.
The government issued an 18-point
plan to tackle risks on the new roads in
March, including the removal of
“dynamic” hard shoulders such as
those in which Mr Bhaimia was injured.
Another stretch of the M1 will be inves-
tigated for safety.
Mr Bhaimia, 20, spent three weeks in
hospital recovering from five broken
bones and organ damage. Others in the
car suffered serious wounds, including
brain injuries. He was travelling from
Birmingham to London with a group of
friends after representing Middlesex
University in a pool tournament.
The crash at 3.10pm on December 1
last year was on the southbound M1.
The stretch of road is classed as a Dy-
namic Hard Shoulder Running motor-
way. The students’ Kia Sedona lost
power and the driver parked close to the
hard shoulder, which was being used as
an active lane.
They rejoined the main motorway
but the vehicle again lost power. It wasstationary on what would have been
the hard shoulder on a traditional
motorway when a lorry struck it.
Crash investigators found that the
lorry was travelling at 56 mph. The
driver had not braked until he hit the
car, despite having eight to ten seconds
to do so. Luton crown court was told
that other motorists drove round the
stricken vehicle.
Mr Bhaimia had to catch up on his
studies after several operations. He was
forced to give up a part-time job at an
accountancy firm.
“The accident and waking up in
hospital is all a blur,” he said. “I don’t
remember much of what happened in
the first few days after the crash. I was
studying hard and had an ideal job.
However, because of what happened I
was way behind in my studies.
“I was determined to pass my year as
I didn’t want to have to defer. Somehow,
I managed to catch up and pass which
I’m really proud of.
“I just hope that by speaking out
people realise how dangerous smart
motorways can be. I don’t think a lot of
people understand how they operate so
it’s vital drivers take care at all times.”
The lorry driver, Wojciech Bukowski,
65, from Poland, had admitted causing
death by dangerous driving and four
counts of causing serious injury.
Mr Bhaimia’s lawyers have started a
civil case against the lorry driver’s in-
surers. Darshana Patel, specialist seri-
ous injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell,
said: “This is a truly terrible incident
which not only claimed the life of a
bright and promising man but also sig-
nificantly impacted the lives of four of
his friends. The safety of smart
motorways has been called into ques-
tion on a number of occasions. The
number of fatalities on such routes
nationally is a major cause for concern.”J
ames Bond,
Gregory Peck and
the Man from Del
Monte... panama
hats have long
been the accessory of
choice for the
diplomatic corps and
the Wimbledon set
(Hannah Rogers writes).
This summer, expect
to see them in your local
park too. Sales are up,
according to British
stores. The London-
based milliner Lock &
Co, whose designs have
been worn by the
Duchess of Cambridge,
say that panama hats are
their most popular style
this summer. At JohnLewis, three quarters
of the panama styles it
stocks have sold out.
This is not the
panama’s first
moment in the sun:
Madonna and Pippa
Middleton are both
fans. The Duchess
of Sussex caused a
run when she wore
a £54 take on the
monochrome style
from the US brand
Madewell to
Wimbledon last
year. This
summer (and in
lieu of the
tennis circuit)
they’re all over
Instagram.The simple black-and-
cream version won’t do
it for the selfie set,
however. Instead,
panama one-upmanship
is in play. Expensive
ribbon, a visible brand
logo and wide brim are
part and parcel. That’s
why stock of Valentino’s
V-logo stamped style,
£545, is running low on
Net a Porter.
This is modest in
comparison to other
styles of headgear that
have gone viral in recent
years. The rise of the It-
hat can be traced back
to 2018, when La
Bomba, a metre-wide
brimmed sunhat by the
buzzy French label
Jacquemus, sold out four
times over and had its
own waiting list.
The category has
since become as hotly
anticipated as shoes and
bags on the catwalk,
giving rise to luxury
bucket hats, boaters and
beanies. On the right
head, these items can
“break the internet”: the
equivalent of an A-list
red carpet appearance.
Back to the high
street, though:
panamas are on sale
for £7.50 at M&S. This
year you won’t even
have to worry about
it getting crushed
in the suitcase.Fashion joins the
diplomatic corps
The panama hat is
a tennis staple for
the Duchess of
Sussex and
Pippa Middleton,
and the style is
also popular
this year on the
streets of ParisNiece of safari murder
victim traps suspect
AfriForum, and within hours he was
arrested at the complex where he was
living and working installing garage
doors.
Mrs Sergison said: “I was in the gar-
den centre buying lavender because it
was Chrissy’s anniversary and it was
her favourite plant, when I got a call to
say he had been arrested.
“I almost got him once before with a
honey trap. My husband and I came up
with a back story. I told him I was a
stewardess as it meant I wasn’t always
contactable. It was hard because this
man was suspected of murdering my
aunty — I was having nightmares when
we were messaging each other.”
She added: “I knew his guard was up.
At first I befriended his friends, to allay
suspicion, before befriending him. He
was using a slightly different name and
was a member of dating groups.
“I kept going because Chrissy de-
served it. She was such a wonderful
woman. She was so kind, she had been
a teacher all over the world and was full
of tales.”
Mrs Robinson and her husband Dan-
iel, a retired RAF mechanic, bought the
park in 2002 and turned it into a thriv-
ing business. He died of cancer in 2012.
Ian Cameron, from AfriForum, said:
“It was a very brutal murder and now to
be part of the arrest of the prime sus-
pect was very special and I am so
pleased for Lehanne and now justice
must be seen to play its part.
“When I reposted and retweeted
Lehanne’s post it was shared 70,000
times and then I got this message out of
the blue from someone who knew him
and gave his details. Later that evening
the prime suspect was behind bars.”Ben Ellery, Jane Flanagan
The prime suspect in the rape and
murder of a British woman in South
Africa was arrested yesterday after six
years of detective work by her niece.
Christine Robinson, 59, a retired
teacher, was allegedly attacked by a
gardener at the 125-acre safari lodge
she ran alone after her husband died.
Mrs Robinson, from Liverpool, had
put up a struggle against her attacker,
who tried to strangle her before stab-
bing her in her bedroom in July 2014.
The prime suspect, Andrew Ndlovu,
then 24, vanished and was thought to
have returned to his native Zimbabwe
and then come back to South Africa.
Mrs Robinson’s niece, Lehanne Ser-
gison, a retired chartered
surveyor, became infuri-
ated by the lack of
progress by the police in
South Africa and the
British Foreign Office.
After delivering
a petition to
Downing Street
in 2014 calling
for more to
be done she
grew disillu-
sioned and in
2018 tracked
the man down
on Facebook
from her home
in Bickley, Kent.
Posing as an air
stewardess called
Missy Falcao, a
portmanteau of
the names of her
racing greyhounds, they
shared flirtatious messa-
ges for months and he
agreed to a date last
year. Mrs Sergison
arranged for South
African police to lie
in wait but the man
did not show.
The trail went
cold but yesterday,
on the sixth anni-
versary of Mrs Rob-
inson’s death, Mrs
Sergison posted a
photograph of her
aunt, and photo-
graphs of the sus-
pect from Facebook.
The post was shared
by a South African
human rights group,Christine
Robinson and
her husband,
Daniel, ran Rra-
Ditau lodge.
Andrew
Ndlovu, right, is
suspected of
murdering her