An ambulance driver is facing jail after a newly qualified paramedic was killed when he made a wrong turn and crashed into a cement lorry on a 999 call.
Alice Clark, 21, had only been in the role for two months before her tragic death in January 2022.
Ambulance driver Edward Riding, 45, pleaded guilty to causing his colleague’s death by driving carelessly when he appeared in court [on Monday Jan 29]. The charge carries a maximum of five years in jail.
Maidstone Crown Court heard how Riding was reacting to an emergency when he was diverted and took the wrong turn, before hitting a kerb causing the ambulance to veer across the road into the cement truck.
Alice was one of three paramedics travelling in the ambulance at the time of the crash. It was not taking a patient to hospital at the time.
Riding was airlifted to Kings College Hospital in London with multiple injuries. Student paramedic Megan Kuhn, who was in the back, suffered head injuries.
The driver of the cement lorry also involved in the crash suffered minor injuries. The road was closed for several hours while crash investigations took place.
Ms Clark, of Newington, near Sittingbourne inKent, went to the University of Greenwich to study to become a paramedic, graduating in July 2021. She had joined the South East Coast Ambulance Service just two months before the fatal crash.
Riding, of Crowborough, Kent, was given an interim driving ban until he is due to be sentenced on April 17. He was remanded on bail while the Probation Service prepare a report.
Alice’s heartbroken parents said she had loved working for the ambulance service.
Paying tribute at the time, they said in a statement: “Alice was so excited to qualify as a paramedic and looked forward to every shift. She was a beautiful, kind, fun-loving daughter, sister and granddaughter. She loved to travel. Anyone who met her loved her. She will be missed more than words can say by family and friends.”
