More people to receive help as post-collision support charity receives boost

23 September 2024

A West Yorkshire based national support charity has been given a grant to help more people affected by road death and injury.

SCARD (Support and Care After Road Death and Injury) received £7850 from the Mayor of West Yorkshire’s Safer Communities Fund to increase their capacity and produce a leaflet on dealing with grief.

Set up following the tragic death of Steven Mark Whittingham in 1992, at the hands of car thieves, the charity offer year-round support to the families and friends of those lost on our roads.  

This includes one-to-one counselling and emotional support, legal assistance and general help with questions and worries. Their helpline is monitored 365 days a year and is available from 9am to 9pm.  

John Scruby, Trustee at SCARD, said:

“Any road death is an unexpected and often traumatic event for all affected. It is estimated that up to 400 people can be affected by a single road death including bereaved families and friends, colleagues and Neighbours, witnesses and the emergency service staff dealing with the aftermath.  

“SCARD offer a unique set of services, delivered with an empathetic as well as sympathetic ear.  

“Some of the hardest aspects to understand and control are the immediate and long-term feelings of grief. These come at any time and in no particular order, but can be the hardest of emotions to deal with.

“Funding from the Mayor’s Safer Communities Fund has enabled us to design and print a helpful guide to these feelings and to explain that they are quite normal. The funding will also allow us to expand our group of expert Counsellors, helping SCARD to go from strength to strength in continuing our services to those who need us.”  

Alison Lowe OBE, Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, recently visited the charity to see how the funding was being used, she said:

“It was great to meet and thank some of the volunteers behind SCARD who make such a difference in West Yorkshire, and beyond.  

“The pain of losing a loved one is devastating, and even more so in unexpected circumstances like in road collisions.  

“That is why we are working together with SCARD and a raft of road safety partners to deliver Vision Zero by 2040 in West Yorkshire – the eradication of all road deaths and serious injuries.”  

You can contact SCARD's helpline on 0345 123 5542 or to find out more visit www.scard.org.uk.

Laura’s Story

On the morning of the 21st December, I was chatting with my two daughters about what we still needed to do before Christmas. Sarah was 17 and Laura was 15. There was nothing unusual about this Christmas, it was just like every other Christmas that we’d enjoyed together.

Just before lunch, Laura left to meet up with a friend. She gave me a kiss and went out of the door, smiling, and as she passed the window she gave a big cheerful wave. That was the last time I saw her alive and well.

By 5pm Laura wasn’t home, which was unusual as she had to be at work by 7pm for her waitressing shift.

By 6pm we started to feel that something was wrong.

At 7pm, Laura’s work confirmed that she wasn’t there. We drove around looking for her friends but they hadn’t seen her.

At 7.45pm, we reported Laura to the police as missing and police officers came to take a statement from us.

At 11.55pm two traffic police officers knocked on the door to tell us that a teenage girl meeting Laura’s description was in Hull Royal Infirmary. They had come to take us to Hull to identify her.

When we arrived at the hospital, we were taken to the Intensive Care Unit and I knew, as I walked through the ward to the bed, that it was our Laura. She looked like she was just asleep. She had been in a car accident on Garrowby Hill at 3pm that afternoon, probably on her way home.

That Christmas was spent with our family, but at Hull Royal Infirmary, by Laura’s side, rather than at home enjoying the festivities. We were told that the next 48 hours would be critical as she had suffered brain damage.

After a trial period Laura failed to cope without the life support, the decision was taken, on advice from doctors that the life support machine would be turned off, allowing Laura to pass away peacefully. The family said their last Goodbyes at lunch time on Christmas Day and then life support was withdrawn.

With her dad and her sister, I sat with Laura until she took her last breath at 7.05am on Boxing Day, 2002.

By Laura’s mum

Laura’s Mum, said: “I received emotional support through the SCARD Helpline and later I received free counselling arranged by SCARD.

I don’t know where I would be now without this support”