Parents of crash victim renew call for new driver rules

The parents of a teenager who died in a car crash have said meeting MPs to call for stricter rules for young and newly qualified drivers has given them fresh hope.

Neil Suffield, 18, was a enger in a friend's speeding and overloaded car which lost control and crashed head-on into a bus in 1986, killing five people.

His parents, Robbin and Patsy Suffield, from Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, have been campaigning for graduated driving licences ever since.

"We've been banging our drum about this for a very long time and now with this latest campaign, I think 'yes finally'," Mrs Suffield said.

The couple said the prospect of getting a change in the law did look possible at one point.

"We did get somewhere as four years after he died a bill went into parliament to restrict the size of the car of that a newly qualified driver could drive.

"It failed on the second reading but we've stayed campaigning ever since," Mr Suffield said.

Speaking of his son's death, he added: "They drove down a country lane when they approached a hump bridge and with the inexperience of the driver, the overladen car, and excessive speed, the driver lost control and went head-on into a bus," he said.

"Out of the six in the car, five were killed, and one was seriously injured."

The pair were among a group of bereaved families who met MPs on Thursday to advance the case for graduated driver licences.

Campaigners want to extend the learner driver period, ban new drivers aged 17-19 from carrying engers for six months and make motorway and rural road experience mandatory during lessons.

A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: "Whilst we are not considering Graduated Driving Licences, we absolutely recognise that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads.

"We are already taking action to tackle this, including through our THINK! campaign, which has a focus on men aged 17-24 as they are four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured than other drivers."

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