Inquest begins into Oallen Ford fatality

Oallen Ford inquest probes road condition

Goulburn Mulwaree Council faces compensation claim over Oallen fatality

Goulburn Mulwaree Council apologises for Oallen pothole fatality

Melissa Pearce sat with tears rolling down her face during parts of Wednesday’s coronial inquest into her partner’s death.

Flanking her were James Hughes’ family and Ms Pearce’s mother and daughter.

Deputy State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan had earlier welcomed them. 

“I’m sorry you are here under such sad circumstances today. Our only hope is that we can find some answers on what happened to James,” she said.

“If you need to cry, cry...These things are always very sad so you do what you need to do.”

Counsel assisting the Coroner, Timothy O’Donnell said Mr Hughes spent most of his life in Canberra but left home at 17 to become an aircraft engineer fitter with the RAAF. After 1989 he worked around Canberra for SnapOn Tools and then became self-employed as a vehicle paint repairer.

“For the majority of his life James had been fascinated and passionate about motorcycles,” Mr O’Donnell told the inquest.

“He began riding on his grandfather’s farm when he was about nine or 10 years old. By the time he was old enough to get a motorcycle licence he was already familiar with riding, fixing and rebuilding them.” 

He enjoyed nothing more than riding with his best mates. On October 4, 2015 Mr Hughes was on a solo ride on his “pride and joy,” a restored Ducati 900S2.

But at about 11.30am, he lost his life on the Oallen Ford Bridge’s northern approach while riding to the coast. An autopsy found Mr Hughes died from multiple injuries sustained in the crash. Witnesses said he’d hit a pothole after rounding a bend. 

“The coronial investigation to date has revealed that failures to the surface of Oallen Ford Road bridge approaches became evident within days of the newly constructed bridge being opened to the public on September 10, 2015,” Mr O’Donnell told the inquest.  

Goulburn Mulwaree Council’s contract supervisor and inspection officer, Chris Brassel alerted his works manager, Andrew Palmer to the road quality in a September 15, 2015 email titled ‘The Good, Bad and the Ugly.’

Works supervisor Michael Dodson dispatched a road maintenance crew led by Chris Bartlett to do the repairs.

“On September 16, 2015, Bartlett completed the repairs but communicated to Michael Dodson that he felt movement under the surface and believed the repair would not hold,” Mr O’Donnell said.

During evidence Mr Bartlett said he patched potholes on the bridge’s northern and southern side.

“On the Gouburn side (north), I recollect the hole was eight to 10 inches in diameter and two inches deep,” he said.

At a September 17 works meeting it was decided to asphalt the approaches. Former works coordinator David Ellison, contacted contractor Roadworx to do this. But during evidence, Mr Ellison said the scheduling was “pushed back” twice until mid October because the contractor was undertaking other council roadworks. He conceded under questioning that these other projects were “not urgent.” Yet in audio played to the inquest of an October 1 works meeting, Mr Ellison is heard describing the Oallen Ford Road repairs as “urgent” and saying the pavement is failing because “trucks are pushing it around. Under questioning, he told Mr O’Donnell this was an “over-exaggeration” and he had been referring more to the speed of vehicles rounding the bend. 

Mr O’Donnell said Mr Brassel sent Mr Palmer a further email on September 22, 2015, attaching three photos of the bridge’s northern and southern approaches. “It needs addressing again this week to make it safe. I think we need to look at this ASAP,” the email stated.

But on September 25 Mr Palmer went on leave until October 6. Mr Ellison was also on leave from September 21 to 29, as well as Mr Brassel from September 28 to October 5, 2015.

On September 28, 2015, a resident, Fred Kroesche emailed the council, stating: “The bitumen on both approaches has failed and is seriously unsafe.”

Mr O’Donnell said at a works meeting on October 1, 2015 the Oallen Ford Road works were flagged “an urgent matter.” Mr Ellison said this was the first opportunity he had to raise the matter after his leave. 

Upon being informed of another email complaint, by motorist Peter Dwyer, regarding the road quality, operations director Matt O’Rourke forwarded this to Mr Palmer on October 1, stating ‘FYI and action.’ But Mr O’Donnell said Mr Palmer was still on leave at this time.

Council barrister Mark Cahill acknowledged in opening remarks there had been a breakdown in reporting procedures about pavement repairs on September 15 and 22, 2015.

“There was also a failure in that no one was delegated to act in Mr Palmer’s position while he was on leave,” Mr Cahill said.

But he told the inquest evidence would indicate systemic changes to delegation, reporting and dealing with customer service requests were already being addressed.

“Those lessons have been learnt by the council,” he said.

The pothole Mr Hughes allegedly struck was filled immediately after the accident and the asphalting completed on October 8, 2015. 

Goulburn man James Baty gave evidence on Wednesday that on October 4 he rounded the bridge’s northern approach in his Mitsubishi Triton 4WD. Travelling at “40 to 50km/h, the pothole “jumped out in front of me.”

“It was a pretty deep hole and it gave us a bit of a jolt in the ute,” he said.

Mr Baty also said later that morning he observed Mr Hughes hit the same pothole while sitting at a family barbecue about 500 to 600 metres away.

“His legs went out both sides of the bike as though he was balancing himself, and the bike wobbled around,” he said. Mr Baty later rendered first aid. 

Canberra man Peter Dwyer told the inquest he complained to the council about two large potholes in the road appearing within two weeks of the bridge opening. He said his vehicle “lunged violently to the right” when he struck the “650 to 700mm” wide holes spanning both sides of the road.

He said he had been “fobbed off” when he contacted the council. Mr Dwyer told the inquest he phoned on September 30, 2015, again on October 2 and then October 7.

“Nobody has got back to me on it, not to this day,” he said.

He recorded all contacts in his diary.

“I also contacted (Monaro MP) Mike Kelly’s office because I was so disgusted by the state of the road,” Mr Dwyer said.

St George’s Basin man, Fred Kroesche also reported the road’s condition after travelling it on September 26 and 27, 2015 in his Nissan Patrol.

In his statement to the inquest, he said the bend before the bridge’s eastern side had “deteriorated to a series of irregular dips.”

“There were a couple of dips just before the bridge that were big enough for a vehicle to hop to the centre line and crash into oncoming traffic,” Mr Kroesche said.

On a return trip on September 27, he maintained a pothole on the western side was “a lot worse.”

“I came around the corner. The speed sign was 45km/h. I looked at the oncoming traffic and didn’t see the hole,” Mr Kroesche said.

“It felt like the wheels and suspension were being ripped off the 4WD. It shook the whole vehicle and our bodies (and) we obviously let out expletives. It was the worst thing I’d ever driven across.”

Mr Kroesche said he sent an email to Goulburn Mulwaree Council after sourcing an address from its website.

“To this day I haven’t had a response. I know it wasn’t incorrectly addressed because it didn’t bounce back,” he said. 

The inquest continues.