A Calne boy killed by a reversing van was ‘playing in the street’

Three-year-old Millie-Ann Rae McKellar, known as Millie during the investigation proceedings, died in the early afternoon of March 3, 2021. when she was struck by a reversing Hermes van at Campion Close, Calne.

The area coroner, Ian Singleton, concluded that Millie died of multiple injuries, including significant head injuries, as a result of a traffic collision on the Wiltshire cul-de-sac.

He added that according to witness accounts and the findings of forensic collision investigators, Millie had leaned against the truck in a blind spot that was not covered by the side mirrors or rear camera and driver Sergiu Tomaiaga had been unable to see her

Millie and her mother Tanzin Wells were visiting her grandmother Glynis Smith on the day of the incident, which they did regularly.

In an interview with police, Ms Wells said that Millie knew the street well and often played in the street with other children as there was “very little traffic”.

Millie was playing in the street while her mother, grandmother and uncle, Connor Wood, sat with Mrs. Smith’s next-door neighbors on the front porch of their property.

His family told officers that he had a good understanding of road safety and would always wait on the road and yell “car” if he saw one coming.

Millie had been playing soccer with her uncle in the driveway before going to check on a cat, which she petted regularly, a couple of houses down the road.

She then moved back and forth between the cul-de-sac and the house and hugged her grandmother before returning to the street, where she played on a scooter.

Ms Wells and Ms Smith recalled seeing Mr Tomaiaga drive into Campion Close shortly before noon in his black Mercedes Sprinter van.

Ms. Wells recognized Mr. Tomaiaga, who greeted his neighbors when he arrived, as he would be delivering packages almost every day.

Mr. Tomaiaga did not remember seeing any children when he entered the dead end.

He parked with two wheels on the pavement and two wheels on the road, and delivered one package, before moving the van down the street to deliver two more packages.

The court heard that he then took one last delivery across the street on foot, before returning to his vehicle by walking across the front to the driver’s door.

He told the officers they interviewed that he checked his rear view camera, which was always on when the vehicle’s lights were on, and his side mirrors before backing off the pavement.

Stephen Hargreaves, a neighbor who witnessed the incident from his kitchen window, said Millie was standing in the driveway against the rear doors of the van when it began to move around 12:03 p.m.

She lost her balance and fell before the truck’s wheels passed over her.

Forensic collision investigator PS John Brunt was convinced this was the case and that Millie had been in one of the vehicle’s “small but noticeable blind spots”.

He added that no contributing defects were found in the vehicle.

Tomaiaga said he felt “something” as he backed up, before he saw the scooter in front of him and then as he backed another meter, he saw Millie.

He had been speaking to a colleague on the phone during this time, using a hands-free Bluetooth headset, but PS Brunt did not believe this contributed to the accident as he had not been able to see Millie.

After the collision, Mr. Tomaiaga stopped and got out of the van while Millie’s family ran out into the street and called 999.

Paramedics arrived at the scene but were unable to revive Millie, who was pronounced dead by Dr. Patrick Morgan at 1:08 p.m.