Calls for safety barriers after death crash No 2

Neighbours want barriers installed and police say they will study the lay-out of King Offa Way.

The westbound carriageway was closed as firefighters followed by paramedics fought a vain battle to resuscitate the driver who was thrown out of the wreckage of his Vauxhall Astra Turbo.

It was the second fatal accident at the scene in three months.

Firefighters from Bexhill and Hastings used Acro jacks to secure what was left of the front of a ground floor flat at Gilbert House beside the busy A259 trunk road.

The impact left a huge hole in the front of the building.

Rescuers had to dig Jackie Carpenter, 46, from under the rubble.

It was nearly an hour after the 6.10pm crash on February 18 before paramedics were able to bring Jackie and husband Graham, also 46, out of their wrecked living room for treatment at the Conquest Hospital.

They were discharged the next day and went to stay with family at Hailsham after attempts to find them accommodation locally failed.

Jackie escaped with a broken rib and Graham with a broken leg.

The dead man was Stuart Doe, 25, and lived at Eastbourne.

He is believed to have lost control of the high-powered limited-edition Vauxhall as it passed from the 40mph limit into the 30mph and entered a right hand curve on the downhill stretch of the dual carriageway.

The car left the road, demolishing the 30mph sign and a tree before flying down a steep grass embankment and over a concrete revetment above the pavement and into the front of Gilbert House flats.

It is then thought to have cart-wheeled into the air.

The car came to rest on its roof on the pavement 20ft further down King Offa Way.

Leading Firefighter Martin Walker, who was among the first on the scene attempted cardio-pulmonry respiration as the dying driver lay in a pool of blood on an approach ramp. Paramedics took over on their arrival but the driver was declared dead at the Conquest Hospital.

The scene of the tragedy