A ROAD crash which claimed the life of a nine-year-old boy was nobody's fault, a coroner has decided. Daniel Chatton died of head injuries after he was struck by a Ford Ka not far from his home in Autumn Glade, Lordswood, Chatham.

His death was the second tragedy to hit the Chatton family in a year. Daniel's father, Derek, died of cancer just a year earlier.

At the hearing at Gillingham into Daniel's death, coroner Roger Skyes heard how the driver of the car, Michelle Smith, of Yewtree Close, Lordswood, was travelling along Gleaming Wood Drive on August 6 last year when she caught a glimpse of children playing near the side of the road lined with trees and shrubs.

Miss Smith, who passed her driving test 15 months before the accident, told the court she had not spotted the children playing in the long grass until she was just a car's length from them.

She said: "I caught a glance of children to the left of me on the verge. As I was passing, one child jumped off the verge into the road and hit my car."

PC Trevor Woolger told the inquest that other children at the scene were unanimous in saying that Daniel went out into the road quickly and into a moving vehicle. The general consensus was that Daniel did not look up or down the road.

Evidence read out by crash investigator PC Alan Clayton concluded that Michelle Smith was driving at a minimum of 38mph in what was a 30mph zone. When asked by the coroner whether he believed the accident would have taken place if the car had been travelling at the recommended speed, he said: "Yes, I believe it would, although the impact speed would have been reduced."

The coroner said: "I am satisfied from accounts given from the children that Daniel did not look before he went into the road." Verdict: accidental death.