Coroner demands change after mum and son killed in Cambridgeshire pond crash

Vivien Radocz, 28, and her eight-year-old son Milan Hamza who died after her car ended up in a pond near RAF Wittering Credit: ITV News Anglia

A coroner is calling for clearer road signs on a tight corner where a mother and son died when her car crashed into a pond.

Vivien Radocz, 28, and her eight-year-old son Milan Hamza, were killed on 3 September 2022 after the Ford Focus she was driving ended up in the water off Old Oundle Road in Wittering, Cambridgshire.

An inquest into the deaths held on 7 March concluded the medical cause of death was from a road traffic collision.

It heard the Ford Focus failed to negotiate a sharp left-hand bend before it ended up submerged upside down in the water at around 10.35am, near the RAF Wittering air base.

Ms Radocz, of Churchill Road in Stamford, Lincolnshire, was unable to escape from her car which was not discovered until around 5.30pm that day.

The eight-year-old boy was taken to Peterborough City Hospital for treatment but died later that day.

The car crashed through the bushes at the edge of the water near the RAF Wittering airbase. Credit: ITV News Anglia

Woman and child die as car found sunk in pond

After the inquest, Simon Milburn, area for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, ordered a prevention of future deaths report.

In it, he wrote: "There is sharp route deviation signage for vehicles travelling in the opposite direction but nothing to alert westbound drivers of the sharp left-hand bend.

"The water beyond the bend clearly creates an additional hazard. "While the precise reason the vehicle failed to negotiate the left hand bend on this occasion is unclear, I am concerned that the lack of signage alerting westbound traffic of the bend at this location creates a risk of future incidents and death, not least because of the water beyond."

Mr Milburn's report was sent to Cambridge County Council highways department, though the authority told ITV News Anglia that the road was the responsibility of Peterborough City Council.

The council has 56 days to respond to the coroner's report, and must explain the action it has taken by 22 June.

Peterborough City Council has been approached for comment.

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