FINES totalling £90,000 have been imposed over the death of a Kent woman whose car crashed into the back of a poorly lit low-loader lorry.

The biggest amount - £40,000 - will be paid by O’Hara Brothers Surfacing Ltd which owned the truck.

Ringway Highway Services Ltd and Ringway Ltd, which admitted exposing victim Sandra Lane to risk, were each fined £20,000 at Maidstone Crown Court.

Kent County Council, the highway authority for which the work resurfacing work was being carried out, was fined £10,000.

Each were ordered to pay £10,797 prosecution costs. The judge allowed 28 days for payment. All pleaded guilty.

James Ageros, prosecuting, said the breaches of the Health and Safety legislation arose out of the fatal accident on the A20 at Harrietsham, near Maidstone, just after 7am on October 25, 2001.

Mrs Lane, 39, of Green Road, Dartford, careered up the ramp of the low-loader in her Ford Orion and smashed into the plant machinery.

Mr Ageros told the court that lighting on the rear of the trailer had been obscured by the ramp being down at the time. “Nothing else warned of its presence,” he said.

It was apparent that other drivers had difficult in seeing the low-loader as it was starting to get light.

Brian Patrickson, who was driving behind the Orion, said later that he saw two flashing amber lights but could not make out what they related to. He saw the Orion “raised into the air”.

Mr Ageros said Mrs Lane was found slumped over the steering wheel. She was taken to Maidstone Hospital but died soon afterwards from multiple injuries.

O’Hara, he said, admitted two charges under sections of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 over loading the plant onto the lorry.

Ringway Ltd failed to discharge its duty to ensure that those other than employees were not exposed to risks. Ringway Highway Services had an overall duty to manage Health and Safety.

Mr Ageros said the maximum penalty that could be imposed was an unlimited fine.

Judge Michael Neligan said: “There was a system which, had it been followed, would have prevented this fatal accident, but there wasn’t.”