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News

Party-goer, 21, killed by a truck

By: KentOnline reporter multimediadesk@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 00:01, 13 April 2011

Friends Amie Gulliford and ZOE Booth-Phillips pictured together before Zoe's death in September 2010

An inquest heard Zoe Booth-Phillips, 21, had been on the coastbound carriageway with best friend Amie Gulliford.

Driver Thomas Weeske was driving his foreign-registered DAF lorry from London to Arken in Germany when he hit Zoe.

It happened at around 2.40am on September 30 last year.

Coroner Rebecca Cobb recorded a verdict of misadventure at Canterbury Magistrates' Court last Thursday.

Zoe Booth-Phillips, 21, who died after an accident on the A2 at Barham in September 2010.

She said would write to authorities to suggest safety improvements to the road in a bid to prevent further accidents.

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Zoe, from Highland Close in Cheriton, Folkestone sustained serious injuries to her skull and torso.

Alcohol levels in her blood were more than twice the legal limit at the time of her death.

PC David Burley, from Kent Police’s forensic collision investigation unit, showed detailed maps of the crash scene.

They indicated the exact location, by the Wick Lane slip road leading to Woolage Green, just after the junction with the A260 at Barham.

He said: “There were no obvious defects on the vehicle when it was examined.

"Nothing was obstructing the view from the driver’s cab and its engine was still running and the headlights were on.

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“Two sets of tyre marks were clearly visible in the nearside lane heading towards the offside.

"These were clearly made by an HGV under heavy braking and there was also some debris on the nearside verge.

"Zoe’s body was found on the nearside edge of the carriageway.”

Thomas Weeske admitted in interview he had been driving for an hour-and-a-half before the accident.

He said: “There was not a lot of traffic around. The weather was bad and I could only see as far forward as my headlights.

"I spotted one girl first in the road who I managed to avoid to my left-hand side, but the second who was standing in the middle, I just couldn’t avoid her.”

Speaking after the inquest, Zoe’s mother Maggie Phillips paid tribute to her only daughter.

She said: “Our world has been shattered, I will never get the chance to walk down the street with her children.

“Zoe was an amazing girl who was in her second year studying business law at Kent University at Medway and also holding down a job in Folkestone with SEEDA as a carer.

“Everyone would turn to her for advice, even myself, and she was an extremely generous person.”

The former Eythorne Primary and Archers Court pupil had been in a relationship with James Ellis, 27, from Deal, for five years.

Maggie added: “They were so happy together and her death really hit James hard too.

“She’d only just turned 21 and her and Amie had been out at a Folkestone nightclub celebrating that night.

"They’d been friends since they were five and shared so many memories.”

Her funeral last October at St Martin’s Church, Cheriton was packed. A memorial page on Facebook has more than 300 friends.

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