August 4, 2021 11.33 am This story is over 31 months old

Lincolnshire social worker, 24, died in 90mph crash into tree

She’d recently landed her dream job and moved in with her partner
The victim has been named as 24-year-old Talia Roberts. | Photo: Humberside Police
By Local Democracy Reporter

An inquest into the death of a young social worker from North Lincolnshire found that a nail had given her a flat tyre, before she crashed into a tree at 90mph.

Talia Roberts, 24, was on her way to work at North Lincolnshire Council when she crashed on Ermine Street, between Barton and Scunthorpe, at 9am on December 5, 2019.

An inquest into her death, held at Cleethorpes Town Hall on Tuesday, found that she had not been wearing her seatbelt and was travelling at around 90 miles per hour on the 60mph road.

PC Robert Sawyer, Humberside Police’s forensics collision examiner, said that a nail had been discovered in a front tyre of Talia’s car which caused it to be under-inflated.

Her Ford Fiesta’s tyre pressure was only at 12psi after the crash, much lower than the recommended pressure of 34psi for that model of car, though PC Sawyer said that it wouldn’t have been immediately noticeable.

She had not been using her mobile phone, confirmed by crash investigators who retrieved it from the scene.

It was just five days before her graduation ceremony, and she had recently landed her dream job at the council as well as moving into a new house in Barton with her partner Elliott, which she had been decorating for their first Christmas together before the incident.

Talia’s family attended the graduation ceremony in her absence, and said she had a ‘heart of gold’.

A post-mortem examination found that she had died from chest injuries after the impact of the high-speed crash, and emergency services were unable to revive her at the scene.

In his conclusion, Grimsby and North Lincolnshire coroner, Mark Kendall said: “Talia Roberts was a young woman with everything to look forward to, with a new home and new career.

“Even if she had been wearing a seatbelt the outcome may not have been any different, I am so sorry she was lost in these tragic circumstances.”